What if?
by Kalendra
Summary: Momiji Runs away,Secret experiments,Mistaken Identity,Aragami awakened. --- Suggestive themes, some swearing. (Finished Finally)
1. Authors Notes

Disclaimer- Of course this Blue Seed does not belong to me, none of the characters, or places either, although that would definitely be cool.  
  
Author's Notes: This being only the first chapter, and my only Blue Seed fanfiction, I've faced a ton of writers block, and I'm afraid the first chapter isn't quite what I anticipated, but it will get better. I promise. If I write anything that you find offensive, I apologize in advance but this is my own interpretation of a story I greatly enjoy, so it will probably not be what you expect. Sorry :)~  
  
Kalendra 


	2. Beginnings

Job finished she set the scissors down on sink top before surveying herself in the mirror. Well it certainly was different, she wasn't sure she liked it at all, but it was the best disguise she could think of and it would work. Reaching over to the basket on top of the toilet she grabbed the bottle of dye and sighed. When she'd been at the store she'd thought about the colors blond and red, they weren't abnormal, and the look would be different, but blond reminded her of Sakura and red of a girl she'd known in school. The girl hadn't been nicest of creatures and she didn't want to be like that person.  
Brunette had been to close to Kome's color and that negated all the normal ones and would be a cold day in hell before she had black hair. It reminded her to much of a past enemy, so she'd had to pick an outrageous one. Green was out of the question, and pink was just to like her so she chose a color no one would expect. So blue it was plus the peroxide to turn her normally brown hair white. It would make the blue more visible. Bleach, cut, then dye. She put the dye in her hair watching the clock's hands tick by the minutes before she jumped in the shower to rinse it out. Watching the blue dye run over her bare skin and down the drain, thoughts began to go around in her head.  
Her life had swirled down the drain and maybe somehow the blue dye symbolized something like that, and maybe she thought to much. No, she knew that wasn't true. She always acted before she thought, throwing herself into harms way, or into action without knowing the consequences. People got hurt because of her, they always did. Maybe she was able to sense trouble, or know when things were about to happen, but what good was it when she couldn't prevent those disasters from hurting people. So she had once, she'd also gotten the man she loved killed. Her eyes stung with something a little more than the ammonia from the dye.  
Saving someone didn't negate getting them killed, especially when they have saved your life more times than you can count. "UGGG." She slammed her fist into the tap turning off the water. She could just envision the many times she'd seen blades, tendrils, spikes, swords, and bullets pierce his flesh to keep them from her, and each time she saw the images in her eyes she could feel the damage as though it were her own for in truth she had been the target. Rarely was someone actually after just him and even more rarely did he get hurt because of it.  
The air was frigid now and that in itself was what shook her from her thoughts. Whipping a towel off a shelf she rubbed it over her hair getting only a small bit of dye on the towel. She dried herself off afterwards before moving to stand before the mirror. Blinking a few times it took her a long while before she could even tell it was her refection. She smiled, noticing it was still her sweet smile, and tried to smile wryly. She practiced facial expressions that were not like her own but wasn't very successful at changing them much. Frowning she tossed her towel over the sink and walked into the other room.  
She'd gone shopping earlier that day, when she had known she wasn't being watched. Rushing to buy the items she needed she packed them away under her bed, and before her shower she'd locked the windows and covered them before placing the items out on her bed. She surveyed them now, and not a damn one looked comfortable but she shrugged. No one would expect her to be wearing them.  
First she put on the black underwear and matching bra. Neither were sexy items and serviced as nothing other than clothes. Next she grabbed a pair of baggy black pants, that looked maybe four sized larger than anything she had warn before, but the waist was tailored down to the right size. She put them on trying not to swim in the fabric. They billowed out around her legs a ton of pockets all over the place with zippers and chains and Velcro. They were the style popular for punks and druggies and it was absolutely not what someone would look for her in. The shirt, black, and made up mostly of strings and patches, was also something she would have never been caught dead in and it was this that she put on next. It covered her enough to be decent, but that was all. Since her hair was now only inches long she couldn't rely on that to hide her figure and she'd never worn something this revealing before. It was incredibly uncomfortable but when she turned to the mirror there were only a very few thing she could have done to hide herself further.  
Blue spiky hair stood out from the top of her head on all sides. Small metal spikes went through her ears instead of the dangly earrings she normally wore and she added a black collar with a large green stone hanging from it. Next was the scrappy shirt and baggy pants. Tall black socks and combat boots were the only thing left for her to add. Green eyes hidden behind thick black mascara looked oddly wide, but they blinked when she blinked. The refection also jumped when the phone rang. She waited silently for the answering machine to pick up.  
"This is Momiji Fujimiya's residence. I'm not home right now, but leave a message and I'll be sure to get back to you." There was a beep then the click of someone hanging up. Momiji stuck her tongue out at the machine deciding that she really didn't care if they didn't want to talk to her, but they could have hung up before the machine was done so that it didn't think it had a message. She groaned, then went to put on her footwear.   
Her neck felt rubbery, had since she'd cut her hair in fact. She ran a hand over the new shortened locks before lacing up the boots. They felt odd against her calves and she'd warn them a bit earlier to try and break them in, but they were still stiff. Once done she closed her eyes letting her senses flow out of the room. Kusanagi was sitting in the tree outside. She thought she could hear him grumbling about the locked window, but she shrugged and grabbed a towel and a bathrobe, wrapping the towel around her head and the bathrobe around her body before she went over to the T.V. and V.C.R. putting in the tape that Mrs. Matsudera had given her as she prepared to do one of the meanest things she'd ever done. She sensed for Kusanagi one more time before turning the T.V. on and pressing play. The volume was plenty high enough for him to hear it outside.  
It was a news report, first telling of the weather which Momiji had checked to make sure it was similar to their weather. Then the weather was suddenly cut off and a panic stricken man came on. "Oh My GOD!" He yelled. "There's been some sort of creature attack in downtown Tokyo. It looks like some sort of PLANT has been taken over, it's attacking everything. Oh God, not again!" The television broadcast was cut short and just watching it Momiji felt panic rise in her throat. Kusanagi broke the lock on her window pushing it up. He didn't even glance at her before telling her to stay put and then he was gone.  
Momiji tore the towel off and threw the bathrobe on the bed making sure she had a wallet, on a chain, full of money and her cell phone in another of her pockets. She had a tazer in yet another and a set of keys hidden in a pocket on the inside of her pants along with her regular set. She grabbed her new leather jacket and raced outside dodging past the reporters and fans camped outside her door.   
None of them recognized her in her new threads and she was able to get by without an incident. The first time in over a year that she hadn't been thronged by the people of Tokyo. It seemed that everyone and their pet cat knew Momiji's face and she could barely make her way on the subway to work without being accosted by people who, not only knew what she had done, but had their own opinion about it. Even now she still found plenty of people who felt that she should have sacrificed herself right from the beginning instead of letting most of Tokyo get destroyed. It was days like that when Momiji wished she'd gone back to Izumo instead of remaining with the T.A.C. Sure the research was important, but it made her eyes sting just thinking of all the crap people had been giving her. Many people loved her, but even so the ones that didn't still got on her nerves, more than just a little bit.  
With only a backward glance towards her house she ran off into the crowds of Tokyo. It wasn't quite ten on a Friday night and the streets were filled with people and it got even more crowded as she got closer to the center of town. She took a few moments to stand in a telephone booth and sense Kusanagi's presence. He was at the supposed scene of the attack flitting around trying to discover what was going on. She hated herself for doing it, but he hung around Momiji as though he had no other reason for for living. She couldn't escape for even an evening let alone as long as she planned now.  
She fingered the large green chunk of acrylic that hung from her choker and felt even worse. It was the exact same type of acrylic that blocked the effect of the Kushinada pulse. It would keep Kusanagi from being able to locate her as it blocked him from sensing her the same way it blocked the pulse from getting to the Aragami. Akiko had made it for her when the whole story had come out ages ago. Kusanagi had kind of dropped hints that he didn't want her to wear it, and she could guess why. It was his incessant need to be near her made it nearly impossible to get away. No, he didn't press her, or force her to do anything she didn't want to do. He wasn't clingy at all and once his presence had been even comforting, Momiji didn't know if she'd destroyed that or if she had just let his indifference get in the way but he'd backed off.Knowing what she'd done to him, so many times over the last couple of years she couldn't bear for him to place so much trust in her, for him to care for her in any way. Settling the rock back against her chest she re-entered the flow of people managing to get herself quickly lost in the stream of people. It was odd, and despite the pushing and shoving she felt oddly at ease completely free for the first time years. No, in her entire life. No more purification, rituals, sacrifices, no more keeping out of trouble and following orders.   
  
Over a mile away in the center of town Kusanagi floated over where an attack should have been taking place but instead he found a normal section of town with no disturbances what so ever. The reporter on T.V. had been greatly mistaken. There were no Arigami, and if he'd thought for a moment before racing off, he would have realized that he couldn't sense any either. Instead he'd unbelievingly flown off without a second thought an expression of disbelief written all over his face. It was much like the one he had now as he stared at the road. He didn't even react when he watched someone steal a purse. With Momiji around he would have been all over him.  
"Momiji!" He yelled out loud smacking himself on the forehead. Without taking another look down he headed back to her home her beautiful green eyes the only thing on his mind. Despite the fact he'd left without taking her, something he knew she would scold him for, she should be relieved that there was indeed no attack. Again he didn't think to first sense for her presence or he wouldn't have been so surprised when he returned.  
The door was locked, as it normally was this time of night, so he flitted around to the back where her window was still open from when he had broken in. Not very unusual since she knew he'd be back and most likely come in through the window no matter how late it was, but looking inside Kusanagi was puzzled. She wasn't there. The television was turned off, the bed still made. The only thing out of place was a bathrobe and towel tossed carelessly over her pink bunny comforter. Kusanagi poked his head in the window before moving in the rest of the way sliding his legs over the window sill.   
"Momiji?" He asked tentatively making sure he didn't walk in on her undressing or something. He grinned wryly. Not that it would be a bad thing if he did. He might just get a chance to get a glimpse of her slim beautiful body. He shook his head. Now wasn't a time for those thoughts. He poked his head around the bathroom door trying to wipe the grin from his face, but it faded as he noticed it was empty. He found it very odd. Quickly he checked her work room, the only other room on the upper floor, then hurried down the stairs taking them two at a time. She wasn't in the kitchen, dining room, or the sitting room. That only left his room in the basement, and it only took him a glimpse through the doorway to know she wasn't there.  
"Crap!" He swore standing inside his doorway. Taking a deep breath he focused on his matama's trying to sense the disturbance that the Kushinada made, but it was no where. Kusanagi tried harder, to no avail despite the fact that his range was the greater part of Tokyo. Cat like eyes widened with shock, and maybe a little fright. Surely if she'd died he would have known. Any pain she felt, even something so insignificant as pricking her thumb, he had been able to feel, and suddenly he felt oddly deaf with her presence gone from his mind.   
Kusanagi tore up the stairs racing for the phone. The TAC phone numbers were on a piece of paper beside it and he used his finger to trace down the line till he reached Kunikida's and reading the number under his breath he pounded the keys into the phone and jammed it against his ear waiting for someone to pick up. 


	3. Mistaken Identiy

The jostling got more violent as Momiji reached the entry way of a popular club, and some times it really hurt. Tears of pain sprung to her eyes and she carefully wiped them away when she could. For the first time she was doubting the intelligence of her little escapade. She'd never been alone before, never had to deal with such crowds or people by herself or at all except the fans outside her door. The club, a name she couldn't make out with her watery eyes, must have been very popular since it had nearly a hundred people trying to crowd through it's doors. Momiji got jabbed in the side by someone's sharp elbow before she made it to the outer rim of people. She was able to stand still for a moment, and she reached up to take off her choker hesitating at the last moment.  
  
What if they were mad at her for running away? Kusanagi would most certainly give her a thorough scolding. She'd let him down again having tricked him in horribly before making sure he couldn't follow her. Tears, not of pain pricked her eyes and her hands continued to waver. Suddenly police lights flashed almost directly in front over her making her momentarily blind. Momiji had a sudden urge to run thinking that they'd found her already, but she couldn't see. She took a small step backwards, not running into anyone, and turned to flee when suddenly she was flung to the pavement.  
  
"Ouffff. Get off me!" She shouted trying to breathe. The person shoved her harder into the gravel on the ground and she winced as it cut into her skin. Then the weight was gone and she managed to run over. A young woman who looked almost identical stared down at her with panic filled eyes. Momiji stood up examining the girls hair, blue also, but a little bit longer than hers. They were wearing the same shirt and pants, and even their boots were the same. Talk about coincidence.  
  
The girl took a good look at Momiji her eyes lighting up before she shoved passed her and took off into the crowd. Momiji stood there confused until a police officer found her shoving a gun under her nose.  
  
"Found you at last!" He grunted grabbing her by the arm in a cruel unrelenting grip. Momiji just looked at him. He shook her arm trying to get some response.  
  
"Quiet now are you? Bout time. Don't try that again or else!" He shook the gun under Momiji's nose threateningly before taking off with her in tow. Finally Momiji could speak.  
  
"Where are you taking me? You've got the wrong person. What are you doing? HEY! Listen to me!" She was rewarded with a hard shake, but wasn't freed. She tried to brace her feet but they slid on the gravel and when she almost lost her footing Momiji gave up fighting. She needed help. Reaching up to rip off the choker the man noticed her movement and caught the free hand.  
  
"No you don't missy. You're coming with me, and I will not stand for any more of your nonsense. I suggest you get in the car and do what your told." He took a zip tie and cuffed her hands together behind her back before shoving her head first inside the back door of a police car. Unable to stop she bashed the top of her head on the opposite door before falling stunned to the seat. Her eyes filled with tears she couldn't wipe away and she felt her mascara run down her face. Her hands were immobile behind her back and there was no way she could get her teeth anywhere near the cloth of her choker. How did she always manage to get herself into these things?  
  
Back at Momiji's house Kusanagi felt the same pricks of pain first in his hands, then his cheek before the muscles in his arm pulled taunt. He closed his eyes trying to block out everything but the pain to somehow trace it back to it's source. He swore as he could find nothing. Fists clenched by his sides he tried again but still nothing.  
  
"I'm telling you, you've got the wrong person. I'm now who you think I am. I'm Momiji Fujimiya I swear. You've got to let me go." She screamed yet again at the back of the drivers head. The man who had caught her sat in the passenger seat grinning over the seat back at her with a menacing look in his eyes. She bit her tongue for a moment before trying again. The man grinned wider and angrily she kicked the wire mesh separating them. His partner mumbled something making him turn around.  
  
"At least tell me where you're taking me, Come on." She tried to reason with the driver. So far he had done nothing to her, so maybe he wasn't like his partner. Neither answered her and she went back to insisting upon her identity which was received by more silence. Infuriated she lapsed into silence watching out the car window. They were still in Tokyo, but the car headed into the demolished portion of it, the area hit hardest by the Aragami attacks. Only the government had been allowed back in to begin reconstruction of buildings or to finish off hazardous buildings. It made sense to Momiji somehow she would end up back here.  
  
They passed the crater where the God Susano-oh had taken Aragami form and where Momiji had died only to be revived. She had thought for a moment that maybe they were heading there, but they moved silently on till they reached a series of enormous warehouses barricaded behind a double chain link fence with rolls upon rolls of barbed wire atop them. The car went to a gate where they were waved through on a driveway that lead to one of the five buildings. They pulled up in front and Momiji was pulled out of the car and roughly pushed inside the warehouse.  
  
The whole building, dark now, was as far as she could tell, filled with rows upon rows of computers and lab equipment. Beakers full of liquid percolated and bubbled odd glowing objects and beakers threw shadows into vivid relief and computer screens hummed in the darkness. Momiji's green eyes roamed over all this before she was shoved through yet another door into a small room that looked much like a cell. There was a white slab of metal in one corner opposite the door and a bench by it's end. A tall man stood at the bench with his back to her, but as they entered he turned around holding a very large hypodermic needle. He had a smile on his face.  
  
"Ah, I see you've found her." His voice was raspy, fitting the evil aura he gave off. Momiji subconsciously cringed back from him and his piercing blue stare. White hair about the length of hers stood strait up on the top and was shaved on the sides. As far as Momiji could tell he was maybe forty, but she wasn't really interested in his age, but the needle advancing in her direction.  
  
"She gave us a good chase, then started up with some bull story about her being the Kushinada. For being a street bum she doesn't seem to like our hospitality." The until now silent driver reported to the man in white. Momiji looked at him eyes wide open in shock.  
  
"You have the hospitality of a Viper!" She spat at him, but he didn't even look at her. "And I am the Kushinada. Now let me go!" She struggled against her bonds for only a moment when the man in white stepped in front of her the needle held only inches from her face.  
  
"Of course you are. I mean the Kushinada goes running around the worst parts of Tokyo in the middle of the night dressed like a tramp. Now face it. We know you have no family so no one is going to go to the cops, no one's going to report you missing and you are NOT the Kushinada. Now this little shot is going to help you relax and tomorrow you'll feel much better, I promise." He advanced on her closing only the few inches that separated them. Momiji struggled to move back away from the needle but she was held in a firm grip unable to move.  
  
She felt the needle enter her arm and tried to scream but a hand clamped over her mouth. Her arm went numb and shortly she wasn't able to stand. She looked from the man in white to the car driver. Both were watching her expectantly and she realized why when the room started to go black. She didn't remember hitting the ground.  
  
Severe cold woke her up, but the second she opened her eyes she wished she hadn't. An incredibly bright light blinded her for a few moments before she lifted her head to look down at herself. She was strapped to a metal table only barely larger than she herself and she was wearing only a hospital robe. Other than that she was naked. Not even underwear which explained the cold. She still wore her jewelry including her choker which she thought was odd, but apparently they people who had done this to her only wanted the clothes off. She tested the bonds but found them much stronger than she was and so she had to settle for looking around the room.  
  
Mostly it was an empty sterile room with glass walls and a marble ceiling. Against the wall to her left was a white rack where eight beakers full of different colored liquids all different from the other. There was something in the bottoms, but Momiji could crane her neck around enough to see them so she moved on. Other than that there was only a metal tray covered by a white cloth. It was on wheels like a surgical tray. That wasn't a good thought.  
  
The room managed to get even colder and her skin broke out in goose pimples and she shivered uncontrollably wondering if they were trying to freeze her on purpose or if she'd just been forgotten. Well apparently not forgotten for just as she thought it the door opened and two men and a woman entered the room through a door that had looked like one of the glass windows. The two men went over to the beakers on the rack while the woman went to the tray and pushed it to the table next to Momiji. When the woman spoke Momiji jumped slightly having expected them to not talk.  
  
"The file says your name is Dorien do you want us to call you that?" She sounded almost kind despite the fact that the people she worked with had kidnapped the person she was now talking to not to long before. Momiji wondered how long it had been, and asked. "It's Saturday morning, you only slept through the night."  
  
"Oh. My name is Momiji." She tried telling her. The woman looked at her with a raised eyebrow before she walked around the table to look at the beakers. She rearranged a couple of them talking to the men quietly.  
  
"Yes your file did say that you insisted that Momiji was your name. I'm sorry Dorien but that just isn't your name. Before you escaped we did all your genetic makeup and back round checks so we know exactly who you are, although after today it wont matter much." She peered in the last beaker before nodding to one of the men. He and the other man turned their backs to her and started talking in hushed tones.  
  
"Why wont it matter?" Momiji asked realizing that something very serious was going on here, not that her lying naked on a metal table tied up wasn't serious, but something more was happening and she had no clue as to what it was. Maybe this woman would tell her before it happened.  
  
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it to much. You'll figure it out soon enough." She said cryptically going back to her tray and moving the cover off just a bit folding it on top in just a way that Momiji couldn't see what was underneath. "Just so you know we're going to do this in the most painless and quick way possible. First we'll inject certain portions of your body with an anesthetic. It wont last more than a few minutes, but that's all we'll need."  
  
"All you'll need for what?!" She asked panic making her voice rise in pitch. The woman patted her arm almost fondly but shook her head pulling out another hypodermic syringe. This one was much smaller and filled with a slightly green liquid Momiji turned her head so she didn't have to see it but in doing so she didn't know where the woman was going to use it till she felt a slight prick in her knee. Surprised Momiji looked at the woman not understanding.  
  
"Next we'll make a small incision to allow access to the nervous and blood systems." She told Momiji as she pulled out a scalpel and proceeded to make a two inch cut in Momiji's knee. Momiji couldn't feel anything, but that didn't keep her from flinching as though she had.  
  
"What are you doing to me? Allow access for what?" She asked her voice catching in her throat as one of the men came around the bottom of the table carrying a beaker with blue liquid in it. Off the tray the woman pulled a very long pair of forceps and used them to grasp the object from the bottom of the beaker. Her body hid what it was until she had it cradled in her hand. Momiji strained to see what it was, but couldn't. The woman set it against her knee and blinked a couple times in surprise.  
  
"Wow. I didn't expect that kind of reaction, but it's working." She told the man who was now returning the beaker. Momiji tried to raise her head enough to see what was on her knee, but she couldn't even as the woman reached over with her syringe to the other knee. The procedure was exactly the same except for the colored liquid which was this time purple. The woman noted the same reaction out loud infuriating Momiji because she still couldn't see.  
  
Next she went for Momiji's hands talking as she first injected then cut. She told Momiji about having to cut carefully not to slice any muscles or tendons. If she hadn't been doing it to Momiji, she might have been interested, but it was hard for her to follow along her mind having take a hike. Her eyes on the other hand followed the scalpel's every movement, but again her vision was blocked just as the contents of the yellow beaker should have been revealed. When done her hand was covered by a damp cloth and Momiji could have screamed with suspense. Again she tried to ask.  
  
"What are you doing to me? What are those things? Please tell me." She was on the verge of tears but she did not receive an answer. When her other hand was done one of the men came up to hold her head turning it to the side of the beakers. She tried to move her head but couldn't and he didn't answer when she asked why he was doing it. Her robe was pulled down almost to the point where it exposed her breasts, but not quite before whatever was in the syringe made it numb. The last four beakers where brought in rapid succession and the woman pronounced her done. Momiji wasn't paying attention.  
  
As the woman finished whatever it was she was doing Momiji felt something deep within herself shift and change. Her powers, or that of the Kushinada were being changed somehow suppressed changed and suddenly she felt a power welling in her chest. Extreme pain shot through her like a web between her chest hands and feet until she screamed from the intensity. Her eyes were blinded by a brilliant bluish white light that emanated from her body until she blacked out. 


	4. Truths

Kusanagi was sitting at home phone by his side on the kitchen table as he downed his fourth cup of black coffee. It was stone cold, but he didn't notice as he drained the last drops from the bottom. He put it down for a moment then tried to take another drink before realizing it was empty. Instead of filling it up he just stared at it. He'd felt the pain, felt the power released, but somehow he couldn't believe that she was dead. The only time he'd felt anything similar was when Katie had died, but Katie hadn't really been then either and that alone gave him hope.  
Next to his cup, propped up on a flower vase was the picture he had taken of himself and Momiji on the road where they had first met. Right before the picture they had promised to start over, and Kusanagi had thought she had meant so they could be together, but for some reason she had pushed him away. At first he'd thought it was because she thought him a freak, but he'd asked one night hurt when she'd turned away from a kiss. He remembered exactly how she'd looked then, horrified that he could think such a thing. For a few moments she let down her walls as she took his big hands in her own quickly stripping his mitts off so she could trace the matama with a gentle fingertip.  
"These allow you to be strong Mamoru Kusanagi. They allow you to fly. to do amazing feats and survive when you shouldn't have." She then took his hand and placed it against her chest at the base of her throat. "They allowed you to come back to me when everything was against us. They are a part of you yes, but they do not define you. I swear Kusanagi my feelings toward you have absolutely nothing to do with the blue souls you posses."  
She'd looked so sincere that night, her hands around his and her eyes so full of emotion that he couldn't have not believed her. He'd wanted to ask, why then do you turn away from me, but he couldn't bring himself to do it knowing that those words would make her return to the closed person she'd been. Instead he kissed her trying to express all his feelings in the one kiss, but the next morning she'd gone back. He could see it in the way she held her body ridged as she looked at the reporters camped outside. Her back was ram rod strait and her muscles tied up in knots. Kusanagi had put a hand on her shoulder, but instead of leaning into him she'd turned away claiming to be late. He'd checked his watch, a Christmas gift from Momiji, only to discover that she was an hour early.  
Kusanagi tried to take anther sip of his empty coffee finally getting up to put the cup in the sink. He walked back by the table snatching his picture before taking the phone and moving to sit on the stairs. He cradled the picture in his palms careful not to crease the center as he remembered everything he could about her.  
It hadn't been soon after that day when the nightmares returned. Momiji tried to hide them, but it was hard for her to cover the bags beneath her eyes. She had had problems eating too, whatever the dreams being about scared or hurt her very much. She lost pounds nearly overnight. Now that Kusanagi thought about it he remembered that Momiji hadn't started being so very cold until right after the nightmares started.  
The phone rang startling him his thoughts. In his haste to answer it he dropped the phone twice. Finally he managed to jam the talk button ad shove the receiver to his ear. Mr. Kunikida asked him if he was okay to which Kusanagi reassured him.  
"Any word?" He asked hope brimming in his eyes. It was quickly squashed it as he was told no. He'd told Kunikida about the pulse being released the morning before. The T.A.C. and the Japanese government had issued a city wide search, which hadn't been hard to execute since only half the city was occupied. Despite the fact Kusanagi felt sure she was close by they hadn't found her.   
The leader of the T.A.C. Had called to inform him that the search was complete. Kusanagi thanked him and hung up the phone taking out his picture one more time. He traced the line of her face before tucking the picture in his pocket and leaving to resume his own search of the dead sector.  
Her head pounding, Momiji scratched at the burning on her chest. She had trouble getting to the itchy part as her fingers kept meeting a hard object that got in the way no matter how she tried. Frustrated she finally forced her eyes open blinking rapidly at the sudden light. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and began to rub her eyes. The door opened and she dropped her hands.  
"How are you feeling today?" The man in white asked her happily. Momiji growled at him looking at the tray of food in his hands. In hopes that being nice might get her food, she looked up with what she hoped was an apologetic look.  
"I feel like someone hit me with a ton of bricks but I'm also starving. Is that for me?" She asked pointing to the tray. The man in white looked at her for a moment longer before looking down at the tray. Nodding he placed it on the bed beside her taking a pair of chopsticks from his pocket.  
"That's understandable. We had to use the paddles to resuscitate you after the surgery. The voltage was a bit extreme, but under the circumstances, we felt it necessary." He held the chopsticks out to her.  
"What circumstances?" She asked before reaching out to grab the chopsticks. Her hand made it halfway. On the back over her hand was a blue matama.  
Momiji blanked. She'd had this dream before but always she'd woken up to find it just that, a dream. Looking from her hand to the face of the man next to her she couldn't believe she was dreaming. She raised her other hand to find another one. Momiji quickly lifted her gown to find more on her knees and with dread she looked down at her chest. Nestled just above her breasts were the remaining four.  
"No." She whispered to shocked to voice anything louder. She swallowed a couple times touching the matamas on her chest with shaking fingers. They had been the source of the itching and even still the skin between and around them itched. There wasn't the scar tissue that she'd had before as her skin now smoothly met with the matamas. Her hands too had very little scaring.  
"Why, why did you do this to me?" She whispered looking at the man's ice blue eyes. Something like pity flickered there before it was swept away replaced by the dead look he always had. He thought over his reply before answering.  
"The matamas were collected during the Rite of Matsuri when the Kushinada sacrificed herself. Originally there was twelve, but four were destroyed during testing. The other eight were soaked in chemical compounds designed to enhance the powers they give a person. The founders of this branch of the government, it's funders more like, wanted an Aragami on their side someone like the Kushinada's protector, in case the Aragami return or to use," and here he took a deep breath. "a weapon. Someone to do their dirty work. They searched the government archives to find someone who was not only alone in the world, but they felt them capable of killing. They chose a female for their controllability, and thus you were brought here." He finished just sitting there and watching her.  
It was an answer, but it didn't tell her why they had done this to her. It was a mistake, a very big mistake but one that she knew very well could not be fixed.  
"Get out." She told the man, a quiet intensity in her voice. She didn't want to face a man who could talk about doing such a horrible thing as though it were the morning news. The man didn't move and Momiji looked up at him anger burning in her eyes. "I said get OUT!" Her voice rose to a shout and the man leapt to his feet.  
Momiji felt her matamas react to her anger as she also rose to her feet the bank backing up before her. He looked utterly confused but the young woman in front of him looked menacing her blue matamas glowing gently. He beat a hasty retreat shutting the metal door behind him and snapping the lock just as she pounded a fist into it. The door, solid steal, dented slightly.  
Momiji stood staring at the door for a long time before looking at her hand. She'd split the skin over a knuckle and it was oozing green blood. Cradling her hand she gently sat on the bed momentarily forgetting the tray of food next to her as she intently watched the blood stop flowing and the skin knit together. Accelerated healing that's for sure. Sighing she took the food tray and began to eat hungrily. She hadn't been this hungry for months.  
When she was done she was done she was oddly tired, probably something in the food. Either that or using her matamas drained her. She didn't remember Kusanagi ever mentioning it but he had long since become used to his matamas. She wished she could ask him, but even if she'd been near she would have never had the courage to ask. He shouldn't have to answer the question of someone so dumb.  
Then an odd thought struck her. True she would never work for these people, but that didn't have to stop her from training and learning as much as she could. Somehow she might even find a way to redeem herself and be worthy of Kusanagi's feelings. She smiled to herself as she turned on her side to sleep. 


	5. Knew Worlds

The search was all but over. Despite how many times he insisted that she was still out there they government officials assigned to deal with the T.A.C. wouldn't believe him. Somehow they had uncovered Kusanagi's report about feeling the Kushinada's power, so now they were convinced that she was dead.  
And now almost all their time was being tied up by some strange occurrences in town. Numerous animal attacks growing in ferocity and numbers kept occurring down town and on the border of the dead zone. Many times during the night Kusanagi was woken up by a strange feeling in his matamas.   
Phantom pains he'd thought, but as they continued on into morning, he started to doubt that. The phone ringing snagged his attention off his matamas as he scooped it off the base by his bed.  
"Kunikeda here." he hadn't even said hello before Mr. Kunikeda burst out. "Kusanagi we need you down at the TAC building right away." He ordered. Kusanagi gulped.  
"What is it?" He asked fearing the answer. Kunikeda did nothing to relieve his fears.  
"Just get down here and hurry." Kunikeda hung up as Kusanagi flung the phone on the bed. He headed out the back door to the basement leaping into the air his coat flapping behind him. His face was clouded by emotions but the most prominent one was surety. The Aragami were back and with Momiji gone there was no way to win.  
  
She woke up when she rolled off the bed, well she'd thought it was the bed but she landed on dirt. Bleary eyed she stood up reaching to scratch her head. She really needed a shower and a change of clothes. Her hand froze. She wasn't outside but in one of the warehouses obviously constructed for only one use. There were fake trees and platforms along with chains and bars hung from the ceiling. She guessed they were for hanging or grabbing on to.   
She heard a slight whirring and turned to see a gun looking device raising from the ground. It swiveled for a moment before training on her. There was a short whine before a green laser bolt struck the ground at her feet. It stopped then raised a few inches to hit just below her toes. Momiji got the point and quickly looked for a place to hide. The nearest platform was almost twenty feet away. As she took a step in that direction the laser shot the dirt in front of her.  
"Fine!" She hissed as she took another step and leapt toward the platform. She reached out to grab a bar that would let her swing on to the platform, but the bar turned out to be another gun. Unable to stop her forward momentum she hit the ground hard going to her knees a hand on the ground. A whirring told her that a gun was being trained on her. She quickly looked for somewhere else to go when she felt a sharp pain in her calf.  
Gritting her teeth she leapt up moving from fake tree to fake tree in rapid succession as she had seen Kusanagi do. It really wasn't as hard as it looked just a case of quick footing and hold herself upright. A laser came close to hitting her hair and getting ticked she leapt up grabbing a chain to swing forward to another one dodging as many bolts as possible another singing her arm just above her elbow. Gritting her teeth she looked daggers at the guns, now numbering in six. She knew there were more just waiting and the pain was really getting on her nerves. She took a moment to think.  
Kusanagi had triangular blades on his forearms, Murakumo had swords from his wrists so it would make sense that she would have some sort of weapons too but how? How did she find out what they were? She really needed to have a chat with Kusanagi. Maybe if she suggested it to her captors they'd see the wisdom of it. First she had to get out of here alive.  
Letting go of the chain she hit the ground hard she rolled over and regained her feet taking off at a sprint. The closest laser trained on her but she lept before it could fire. With a thud she landed behind it and watched it turn towards her, but before it got halfway she spun and kicked the top off. Exposed wires cracked and the gun made a few clicking noises before stopping all together.  
She took off for the next one leaping on the platform and taking this one off with her own hands. It came apart rather easily and she tossed it on the ground with disgust. To think, not to long ago she'd been aiming bazookas at Aragami and preying for Kusanagi to love her. Now she was trapped without him destroying guns to survive a training room. She laughed as she moved to the next one knowing she was probably the only one who would see the irony.  
The once scared little girl who could do next to nothing but always had her protector near now was filled with an awesome power but all alone. Who would have thought. She shook her head feeling the absence of her old hair and knew that she was changed forever. Maybe somehow she could make it up for Kusanagi for getting him killed. Maybe she could use her new powers and disguise to help him fight whatever was out there. To many maybes. She destroyed another gun almost without thought. She could take off the choker and she absolutely knew he would sense her, but as what? The Kushinada she used to be or as the Aragami she now was?  
Absently she raised a hand to feel the small stone of ceramic above her blue seeds. She could take it off, either way he'd come, but as it was he would more than likely attack her and she didn't know enough to fight him, nor did she want to. But what if she hung around here to learn more? They seemed to know more than she did, not that it would be hard but she would learn even more from Kusanagi. She sighed knowing that her thoughts were going in circles. There was no way to convince him that she was a friend. Not with her blue seeds, or her new looks.  
A small twanging in her leg as she stepped on it reminded her of why she was here and she glared at one of the last guns. Taking a rock by her feet she flung it at the weapon and was rewarded by a small puff of smoke as it damaged the circuits and burned them out. She turned to face the last one, but it was powering down retracting on it's little pole into the floor. She felt like sticking her tongue at it, but didn't. A door in the wall she hadn't noticed before opened and the man with the ice blue eyes entered. He was wearing his white jacket and Momiji morbidly wondered if he lived in the thing.  
Warily she leapt over to him making a slight show of her agility. She landed a few feet before him and he stopped trying to determine her mood, but she just stood looking at him. After a moment he cleared his throat and tried to talk. He cleared it again.  
"We have some clothes and other things for you in a bathroom so you can change. If you would just follow me, we need to hurry." Momiji tilted her head to the side and he took this as affirmation and lead the way out. She followed him into the sunlight that shone between the buildings. Fresh air filled her lungs and it was remarkably unpolluted since they were in the dead sector where there were no factories. She had a sudden urge to kneel down and let the presence of the earth pervade her senses but doubted the ice man would tolerate it.  
He led her inside the metal door they had entered the first night but instead of going to her little room he lead her further into the building where it seemed that dorms were set up. At the far end of the row of rooms was a large bathroom with a sunken tub and showers. Enough of them to serve maybe ten people at a time. Quickly he opened the door for her and when she stuck her head in to look around she was forcefully shoved into the room where the door was locked behind her. Momiji angrily shoved her elbow into the door just at the height where the man's face would be before turning and taking in the room and the pile of clothes on a counter top.  
"Ah hot water!" She exclaimed almost leaping for a shower. They had said she needed to hurry and although she looked at the sunken tubs longingly she stripped and turned on the facet letting it quickly drench her. Shampoo and Conditioner were supplied and she used a generous portion of both trying to get her hair to fell like something other than straw. When she was satisfied that it was all she could do, Momiji toweled off and stalked over to where her clothes were sitting.   
A large mirror was on the wall beside the stack of clothes and Momiji caught sight of herself in it and stopped to look at herself. She had masses of muscle tone, more than she'd ever seen on a woman and she flexed for the fun of it and was rewarded with bulging muscles. She knew that matama's somehow made a person stronger but the ones she had seemed to have doubled the effect. She relaxed the muscles frowning when they were still obvious. She didn't look very feminine anymore, and most certainly not like the petite girl she used to be.  
"What have they done to me?" She asked wanting to cry. She looked almost wiry to her point of view although in actuality she looked very lean and muscled not wiry. Momiji couldn't stand the view and turned away from it distracting herself with her clothes. They'd found some of her old clothes, the pants and boots, but her bra and underwear along with her shirt had been replaced with some not her own. The dimensions were accurate but awfully lacy and strapless. Her shirt, an electric blue just like her hair, was also strapless and she felt very uncomfortable in it. Uncomfortable seemed to be something she was going to have to get used to.  
She rapped on the door signaling she was done but no one opened it. Five minutes passed and Momiji finally had enough and took the door handle in both hands and propped her leg against the outside of the frame for leverage. She pulled twice before she heard the metal bar in the dead bolt start to strain. On the next pull she managed to bend it enough she could pry the door open. She did so and flung it open and strode out into the hall just in time to see the man in white rounding the corner. He hadn't expected her to be there and his steps faltered.  
"Why do you keep doing this to me?" She asked harshly not sounding anything like she intended to. "You've kidnapped me, implanted mitama's in me, tried to get me killed by a bunch of lasers and locked me in a bathroom not to mention the fact that I wasn't asked what kind of clothes I'd like to wear. This is damned itchy." She scratched her side where the tag to the shirt was as proof. The man didn't seem repentant in the least.  
"It was necessary now if you'll come with me." He turned around to lead her somewhere else. Momiji's better nature was being challenged by this and it took all her self control to not yell at the man. She felt so hassled that she could have ripped what was left of her hair out and it wasn't going to stop. These people had blatant control over her life and didn't seem to hide the fact. Just days ago she'd been a free loving if not happy person and she was now a prisoner. Anger smoldering in her eyes she followed him down and out of the building where the crossed to one that looked more like a business complex.   
Metal and glass glinted in the morning light seeming much to cheerful but a chill wind blew across the face of the building making Momiji shiver. The man in white noticed and once inside the building he had one of the women there get her a coat. Remarkably enough it was a large black leather coat that fit pretty well. She shrugged into it happy for it's warmth against the blast of the air conditioned air that for some reason had to be set for at most at sixty degrees.   
Once he'd seen to her comfort the man in white motioned for her to follow him into an elevator where he punched in the penthouse. Momiji went to the back side of it which was a window facing the outside to see a small stream of cars trailing through the gates and heading for the building she was now in. Her sharp eyes picked out every detail of the cars and she knew even from far away that one of them was Matsu's car and the other was Kome's. What on earth were they doing here?  
Eyes wide she quickly turned away from the window in case they spotted her. What was she going to do if they saw her? They couldn't recognize her, not with the changes the matama's had wrought let alone her own actions but how was she going to keep them from discovering who she was? Did she want them to know? No, that would keep her from finding a way to make it up to Kusanagi and they would be mad, incredibly mad at her. It would also give her away to her captors who had not believed her no matter what. How could she prove that she was Momiji?  
Genetics. that was what the woman had meant. The matama's had changed her genetic structure and there was no way to prove she was Momiji Fujimia anymore. She wasn't Dorien either but it did provide her with an excellent cover. If she played into being this Dorien person they wouldn't know and maybe she could use the T.A.C. to get her out of the governmental facilities. But that didn't answer the question as to why they were here. With that thought fresh on her mind the elevator reached the top and she was ushered out.  
Down a long hallway they came to a set of double doors made of expensive wood and polished enough she could see her reflection. Those doors were opened for her and even cooler air wafted over her along with a scent of gardenias. Momiji hated that scent and the moment she saw who the scent belonged to she knew why. It was one of the ministers who had once aided in her capture to be sacrificed for the Aragami. She couldn't remember his name nor did she really want to but she knew he was behind this.   
"Ah Dorien." The man, shorter than she was, came over and held out his hand for her to shake. Momiji stared at it then at him until finally he dropped it. "Ah why don't you take a seat. The others will be here soon and then I'll explain why you were pulled from your training." He motioned to a seat across the room at a long conference table as he himself moved to the head to take a seat. He had placed her on his left and Momiji couldn't bring herself to sit next to him.  
"I'll stand." She replied in a rough voice. Placing her feet with care she stalked down the side of the table to lean against the wall next to a tree. The man looked about to argue but just them the man in white came in so he said nothing. Once her position was discovered the man in white approached her yet again this time holding something a very dark blue almost black in his hands.   
Momiji looked at him then at the items when he held them out to her. They were mitts or driving gloves with the fingers cut off. Her eyes stung as she took them from him and covered her hands from the mitamas on them, not that it would help much since anyone who got a look at her could see the ones on her chest. The shirt she was wearing didn't cover them at all. She nodded to the man who then took a seat on the ministers right hand side. He sat down just as Momiji picked up voices coming from down the hall, familiar voices.  
She tried not to panic and ran through her feeble plan one more time going over her new Dorien identity and making sure she would remember to speak in a rough voice. Hopefully it would be enough for them, how she hoped so and she watched them through the foliage of the tree next to her as they came into the room.  
First was Mr. And Mrs. Kunikeda. They both looked hassled and a bit rumples but they were straitening their clothes and quickly looked decent enough. Momiji could see bags under both their eyes and wondered what had caused them sleepless nights. Before she could get to caught up in it though Kome and her husband walked in. Kome looked her usual self in her old pink jumpsuit instead of the blue skirt suit she had adopted the year before. That in and of itself surprised Momiji because the woman rarely wore anything else to work.  
Then came Sakura and her friend the detective. They looked exactly as they had the last time she'd seen them, Sakura in a skin tight red miniskirt and matching top and with all the men's eyes on her. The two sitting at the table sure seemed to get something out of her outfit. Then came Kusanagi. Momiji's eyes widened for a moment until she got herself back under control. She hadn't known that he would be here and indeed he didn't look like it either. He was wearing a pair of black pants a black shirt and his red trench coat. His hair wasn't quite pristine though and that gave him away to Momiji. The group from the TAC stood at the end of the table waiting for instructions which the minister gave telling them to sit. They arranged themselves at the far end each looking very out of place.  
"Let me begin by telling you how appreciative I am for you to make it here in such short order." The minister stood up and started pacing around his area at the head of the table. "Secondly I would like to tell you why exactly I have asked that you come. First of all I'm sure you've figured out that the Aragami are back." He dropped this as some sort of bombshell, or at least it was to Momiji. She stood there in shock but everyone else nodded solemnly. "With the Kushinada gone we have no trump card to hold if we should fail to kill them this time so we must do what we can, as fast as we can to squash the Aragami before it gets out of had." They thought she was dead. Momiji allowed herself to feel sorrow for a moment but some new sense of rationality kicked in.   
That was what they would have seen and felt when she'd blacked out on the operating table. The conflicting powers within herself would have given off the same effect except it wouldn't put them to sleep for good because it was tainted. The people who had kidnapped her had effectively taken away the one way she had ever possessed to keep those she loved safe. They had given her something that she didn't know how to use if she even could. The minister continued speaking and Momiji had to listen to what he said.  
"And of course the other reason is, we need your help. Not only in defeating the new Aragami threat, but we need the help of you Kusanagi to train our new, er, weapon." That brought only silence. Kusanagi shot him a look that clearly said why me? Momiji, angry as usual and using that as a shield, stepped out from where she was blocked by the tree and turned into their view so that they could see the matamas on her chest. Pandemonium reigned.  
  
It stuck Momiji that maybe they expected her to be ashamed of what she was. Among the first questions they managed to ask was how she had managed to get this way and why. Kome was almost livid because she had assumed that Momiji had done this to herself, how that was possible she didn't know. After that everyone seemed to come up with their own theory each as amazing and radical as the previous one. She looked to the Minister but he continued to stand there win an amazed look on his face. He was actually enjoying this.  
The only person who hadn't said anything was Kusanagi who just sat in his char staring at her. She couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes so she she turned away and cleared her throat loudly. Immediately she had everyone's attention.  
"The Minister can explain how it is I'm here." She told them using her gruff voice. The attention shifted off Momiji back to the Minister who didn't look happy with her interference. As quickly as possible he explained about the search and preparation of the subject, leaving out the the details of her supposed escape and recapture. To Matsudera's obviously delight he had the man in white, a Mr. Smith, explain briefly the application of her mitamas. The whole while Momiji stood there watching their faces as they listened.  
Ryoko was clearly horrifed and her grip on her husband looked painful. Daitetsu was confused although about what she couldn't guess. Matsu was jotting things down on a notepad looking up at the Minister every few lines. The detective was checking Momiji out which made her want to squirm as his eyes lingered over various assets. Sometime, at a later date, she would have to remember to slap him for it. Sakura was bored. Most of what was said was over her head and once Sakura was sure that she was no contest she no longer cared.  
Kusanagi only continued to watch her like he would an insect. Momiji had thought that she was good at reading his expressions but she couldn't figure him out so he was either putting in an extra effort to hide his feelings or she had never seen him like this. Both were possible and even likely. The Minister had finished off where Mr. Smith stopped ending their speech with these final words.  
"And so we need help teaching Dorien how to be a proper Aragami. Maybe with both of them on our side we can keep this new menace from getting out of control." With that he sat back down and rested his chin on a hand to look at them. Kusanagi glared back showing the first sign of emotion she'd seen on him but it wasn't exactly what they expected.  
"After all that this country has been through," His voice was soft but intense and Momiji thought his eyes glowed just a bit, "After all we as a people have been through how dare you pretend to know what to do with the Aragami. Don't you realize that it could very well be that what you've done to Dorien was what woke up the Aragami? Didn't you think that there would be repercussions for your actions?" His question took the minister by surprise. He hadn't thought about it and now it was to late to find out.  
"It's to late to worry about that now." Kunikeda broke in trying to keep everyone calm while echoing Momiji's thoughts. "What we have to worry about now is the Aragami. I know you aren't going to like this, but it does seem like you're going to have to help us on this Kusanagi. We need both of you." Momiji couldn't help but notice that no one asked her if she wanted to help. She could have felt resentful but instead she felt lost.  
"All right . We'll find somewhere near your current residence for Dorien to live and supply her with a car so she can reach both you and the T.A.C. I want daily reports on her progress Kunikeda." The Minister stood meaning the meeting was over, but no one else rose.  
"She doesn't need a car." Matsudera told him packing up her notebook and pen. She stood up and tucked in her chair being the first to do so.  
"Excuse me?" Mr. Smith said baffled.  
"She has eight matamas." She explained in her soft voice. "She can fly." Matsu looked pointedly at Momiji who inadvertently took a step back shaking her head.  
"Dorien had been an Aragami for all of two days. Our reports say she doesn't know how yet." Mr. Smith sounded smug lording what little information he had over them. Ryoko sighed.  
"Well deal with that later. Right now we need to get the apartment and necessities and familiarize her with the TAC. Shall we go?" Ryoko pulled her husband up to stand beside her while Momiji looked between her and the Minister. She didn't know what she was supposed to be doing or saying but the frustration was building in her. She wanted to just yell or scream or something but she was trapped by the people around her to the point of helplessness. She was startled when she felt a hand on her shoulder.  
"Take a few deep breaths and we'll get out of here." Kusanagi's voice brought her back from the point of hysteria. She nodded and did what he said. It helped a little. "We'll meet you at the TAC building. Is there a balcony here?" He was directed to an adjoining room and he steered Momiji by her shoulders till she was standing out in the cold morning air. Automatically she zipped up her jacket.  
"You really don't know how to fly?" He asked running his fingers through his hair. Momiji tried not to look at him and just shook her head. "It's okay. Took me years to get there." It wasn't the entire truth and if Momiji didn't know the real story it might have helped. Truth was he'd been able to fly, with her help, before he had eight matamas. Instead of making her feel better she felt worse.   
"For now I'll take you." He told her. An arm wrapped around her waist and she felt the familiar rush of air past her face. The air didn't sting her eyes like it used to and almost happily she looked out to where they were flying instead of just looking at Kusanagi like she had in the past.  
People and cars rushed by them as they flew between the buildings of the inhabited part of of Tokyo. It wasn't to long before he was setting her down on the roof of the TAC building. Momiji took a step away trying not to get lost in the memories of the time she'd flown with him before. When she had her emotions under control she turned to find him watching her.  
"What?" She asked sounding slightly paranoid. His eyes and look unnerved her and for a second she though he might know.  
"Just trying to decide what to do." He said looking away. His hands were hidden in his pockets and he stood resigned a scowl on his face. Momiji watched him for a moment then dug the tow of her boot into a soft patch of tar on the roof.  
"About what?" She asked hiding her own hands. She finally understood why he was always doing that. She was completely aware of the new differences between her and the rest of human kind and how her matamas made her stand out. God how could Kusanagi could stand it all his life. She wanted to go comfort him, hug him or anything but that was what Momiji would have done. She wasn't Momiji anymore.  
"About helping you I guess. I've been like this for over twenty years. You can't match that in two days." He sighed pushing off from the wall to prowl around her. Momiji tried to shrink in on herself to keep from being criticized. She thought that she knew it was coming. "Well first i had better warn you about a couple things." Whatever she expected it wasn't that. Kusanagi went back to leaning on the wall while Momiji looked at him with curiosity. Warn her?  
"First of all, and you may have already noticed this, but the matamas will pick up on and amplify your emotions, all of them. That's why you almost lost it back there. Even with years of training you can still lose your temper and cause a lot of damage. Believe me I've done it." This explained a lot to her. Like why she'd gotten so angry so easily and as he'd mentioned the frustration. It also explained many of the things she'd noticed about him. Like when he got really angry he could do the most amazing things.  
"The next thing being that the matamas will effect how your able to do things. You'll have to be careful because you don't know your own strength, or your own abilities. You could very well hurt someone without realizing it both physically and mentally. I haven't used the mental and telepathic portion of my abilities much, but yours are more powerful so you'll always have to be on your guard, and it will be tough." He watched to see how she would take his words and to give Momiji credit, she spent a long time going of them.  
It was true enough that she was much different from what could be considered a normal Aragami. Not only were each one different because of personality and physical attributes but now even more so because of the tinkering done to her matamas. Not even Kusanagi could predict what all was going to appear in her. Momiji was overcome by helplessness and she flopped down on the roof to bury her face in her hands. She managed to keep from crying but just barely.  
"And here i thought that once I had your help everything would be okay." She whispered hanging her arms over her knees and looking up at him. Kusanagi looked shocked his eyes wide.  
"Me?" He asked. "Why me?" He self consciously ran a hand through his hair again and Momiji watched almost smiling at him.  
"I've seen you fight before, you've always seemed so sure of what you were doing, being exactly what and where you should be. I thought if anyone could help me it would be you." It was all true enough even if he didn't know exactly how close up she'd seen him fight. Her words seemed to stoke his ego just a bit hearing that people had been watching him. At any other time Momiji would have been so flustered by his very presence that she couldn't say or do anything of that sort, like say what she meant, but now she was using the Dorien identity as a shield. It was kind of nice.  
"I wish I could tell you everything to expect what to do, what's going to happen, but I can't. I just don't know." He sighed again and stood offering her a hand up. Momiji looked at his gloved hand for a moment before placing her own gloved one into it. Kusanagi easily lifted her to her feet.  
"The others should be here shortly so let's head down, oh and I'll warn you now. Matsudera's going to try and corner you. I'm sure she's thought of a million tests to run and all the best ways to analyze them. She'll have coerced Yegashi and the others as well. I wouldn't let them if I were you. He tried to make it sound dreadful but Momiji already knew all this. Because of that she'd already thought of something else.  
"But won't the tests actually help? If they compare the results of those to the one's you've taken maybe they can tell me a little about how I'm different from you." All the research she'd helped compile and complete was finally paying off. Kusanagi looked at her suddenly a sharp feel to his gaze. "What?" Momiji asked softly unsure why he was looking at her like that.  
"Sorry, you just reminded me of someone i used to know. She sometimes sounded like that." Pain was etched in his voice and features. Momiji couldn't help but place a hand on his arm wondering who had cause him so much pain. Wait, had known, he thought she was dead! Quickly she withdrew her hand hoping he hadn't caught her look. No he was to caught up in his thoughts and pain. Momiji skirted past him to open the door to the stairs then gently, so he didn't know she was doing it, she led him down the stairs to the main office room which, thankfully, was open. She went in and Kusanagi Absently followed her taking a seat by the door. Momiji looked at him closely now that he wasn't paying so much attention to her.   
He looked positively haggard once one looked closely at and past his physical appearance. His eyes were sunken in and his shoulders drooped in a defeated way. He would have felt the power release from her matamas, no matter how perverted it may have been by the aragami presence. God how she regretted running away, but there was no hope for it mow. She left him to rest for a bit and started exploring the office just like anyone who's never been there would. She was looking out a window when the others finally arrived. When they saw her they trouped in silently moving to their respective desks. Their entrance brought Kusanagi out of his reverie and he stood to lean against the wall taking on an indifferent pose. Kome, never one to stay silent for long, finally broke the silence by storming over to Momiji and holding out her hand.  
"Hi, I'm Kome Yegashi's wife. You can just call me Kome. Welcome to the TAC I guess." She was trying very hard to be friendly so Momiji smiled wryly and took the hand to shake it. What she didn't expect was the emotions she felt from the older woman, Sorrow, remorse, fear, anger, aggression, resentment, and a small touch of interest in Momiji's new identity. She couldn't let go of her hand fast enough and hoped it wouldn't be taken as she was being rude. Next Yegashi introduced himself, then the Kunikedas. Then the detective and last of all Sakura who of course made some snide comment about her wardrobe. From each of them including Sakura she got the same emotions although Sakura also felt bored and a little threatened. Momiji hugged her leather jacket closer to her body looking for Mrs. Matsudera but just as she was going to ask the door burst open. Mrs. Matsudera walked in trailing an over burdened cart of medical supplies. Momiji knew where this was going and caught Kusanagi rolling his eyes. As was expected she took a step back eyeing the cart warily. Matsudera didn't even notice as she started unloading things like and arm cuff and stethaschope. The computer was next.  
"I hope you don't mind Dorien but I need to run a few tests on you so that i can get an idea of how the governments chemicals effected your matamas. Kusanagi I could use your help as well." She didn't even look at him but expected compliance.  
"Do i have a choice?" He asked sardonically. Everyone else in the room looked at him a couple people even grinned.  
"Well this is Dullsville, I'm outta here." Sakura said pulling her purse over a bare shoulder and obviously leaving over to get her keys. Momiji looked away in disgust.  
"I think I'll go with you." The detective, hanging on her every word, held the door open for her. Sakura stuck her head back in and shot a jibe at Kusanagi using her favorite term, carrot boy. Kusanagi ignored her pissing her off.  
"Knowing Matsu, this will take al day and we have some errands to run. We'll be back later if you need us." Kome and Yegashi moved to the door urgency in their stride. Momiji had a feeling that it wasn't just their errands but she'd begun to get the impression that they thought she was Momiji's replacement if that made any sense. To her it did and that was enough to get a little resentment from anyone. She wouldn't be surprised if Kusanagi felt that way as well. Ryoko and Mr. Kunikeda remained taking up chairs by his desk to talk to each other.   
Momiji went and sat where Mrs. Matsudera instructed taking off her boots, coat and mitts as well. She felt very exposed without her coat but knew very well that Matsu couldn't check her matamas with it on. It didn't take the scientist but a moment before she found something odd.  
"There is so little scaring around these." She had taken Momiji's hands in her own and was looking at the tissues around the matamas. Momiji almost started chewing on her lip before catching herself. That could have been a dead give away.  
"It's because of the way there were er installed for lack of a better term." She didn't really want to talk about it but Matsudera found it important so she told about the surgery and the exact way she'd been sliced and diced even going so far as to describe the color of the liquids her matamas had been soaked in. This Matsudera jotted down on her notepad before she checked over the matamas on Momiji's knees.  
"Squeeze this." She handed Momiji a soft plastic ball with wires coming from it. Momiji gave it a quick squeeze making the computer connected to it start printing sheets of data. Matsu looked them over then glanced at Momiji. "Squeeze this as hard as you can." She sounded affronted thinking that Momiji should have of course known that's what she wanted. Momiji complied squeezing the ball until her arm muscles bulged. She kept squeezing until the computer gave a squawk and the readouts stopped. Sheepishly she handed the flattened and destroyed back. She had broken it without reaching her full strength. Kusanagi let out a low whistle before she handed him one. He had to try to destroy it which he did do.  
"Well, there are some obvious differences." Matsu told them after hooking them up to electrodes that connected to the same computer. Two readouts printed off and she was comparing them. "Although it is quite obvious that Dorien is stronger, many of the things that should be higher than Kusanagi's aren't. They apparently need practice just like a human's muscles. I'll see if i can devise some sort of training for both of you which should help. Some of it though you're going to have to figure out own your own." She unhooked them both putting the computer away and pulling out a silver box filled with syringes and vials. Momiji didn't dare let them get a blood sample so she pretended to be afraid.  
"I'm sorry... I.. I can't. Not after them implanting the ... m.. matamas. I'm sorry." She wrapped her arms around herself tears quickly forming in her eyes. Matsu took pity on her and put the case away to finish clearing up. The phone rang and Ryoko answered it quickly writing on a small slip of paper. She then thanked whoever it was and hung up.  
"Here's the address." She said coming over and placing the slip of paper on the desk besides Momiji. "They've also give you a small account so you can get clothes and groceries, whatever you need. It's all at your apartment which I was told is furnished. Do you want me to call you a cab?" Momiji had grabbed her mitts and coat was putting them on as Ryoko talked. When she was done she opened her mouth to say sure.  
"I'll take her." Kusanagi cut her off. He was pulling on his trench coat. "Until she learns the limits of her abilities I'd better stay with her to clean up and messes that she might cause." Momiji prickled at that but anything she might have said would sound like something Momiji had said once before so instead she shoved her hands in her coat pockets and scowled.   
Ryoko nodded faintly before going to collect Daitetsu so they could leave. Momiji glimpsed the dial of a clock and was surprised to find it almost five o'clock. No wonder they were all ready to go. Kusanagi headed for the stairs to the roof without looking back and so remembering to grab the slip of paper she followed him gritting her teeth the whole time.   
She had barely stepped on the roof when the paper was taken from her fingers and she felt his arm around her waist. They were airborne so quickly that her stomach dropped to her feet and she felt slightly sick. Part of this was due to the fact she hadn't eaten yet that day and the other part was because the skin at Kusanagi's wrist was touching her bare stomach and that was how he felt. His stomach was twisting and he felt ill about something, what she couldn't tell. Turning in his grip she tried to tell from his face but it was more impassive than ever. She had barely a moments notice before his grip slackened.  
"Don't you dare-" Was as far as she got before she was falling. Panic rose with the bile in her throat as she watched the buildings get closer and closer below her. A scream tore itself from her throat and Momiji started to black out. She had flown plenty of times but never before had it been an uncontrolled fall like this. With enough sense to curl up she tried to protect her head with her arms and cringed waiting for impact. It never came as strong arms caught her a scant fifteen feet from the top of the building.Kusanagi had snatched her out of the hair but Momiji's stomach didn't believe it and she felt it heave. Desperately she pushed herself out of his arms to land on all fours atop the building that had almost killed her. Her stomach wretched painfully but there was nothing in there to come up. Instead she knelt there painfully until it stopped and when she was finally able to lean back it was only to fix Kusanagi with an almost hateful glare. Never in her life had she been as mad at him as she was now.  
"I'm sorry, if I'd known you were going to react like that I never would have done it. It's just that you didn't even blink at flying and I thought you could handle it." He looked very sincere and Momiji wanted to forgive him but he had just dropped a complete stranger from over a hundred feet up to see if she could fly. If it had been Momiji as herself it never would have happened. She tried to think of something to say that would even come close to expressing her anger but words failed her.   
Her stomach muscles screamed in pain as she stood up glaring at him the whole while. Gaze never wavering she snatched the address back from him and with a running leap she jumped to the next building never looking back, never wavering in her direction. Miraculously she knew how to get to her house without reading street signs and a block away she lept to the street itself reading the address in her hand for the first time. It was indeed just around the corner and she walked there with a sure, deep stride. Some of her anger had burned off but she was still very ticked.  
The military agent waiting at the apartment complex for her took a deep breath before approaching her with the keys to her apartment, 113. Momiji thanked him and mock saluted him before striding off to the elevator. ON the second floor she found the right door and used the key to open the door.  
"They shouldn't have." Momiji muttered to herself looking at the apartment before her. The place was clean, but not somewhere she would have happily called home. The Linoleum was coming off the floor and the carpet had huge brown and red stains as if someone had dumped tea and punch out to give it more color. A futile attempt at best. The bed was a death trap and probably flee ridden to boot. Hopefully they had given her enough money to hire a cleaner and by bedding.   
She should have expected it but the open window came as a small surprise. She turned and found Kusanagi standing next to the doorway to the bathroom.  
"Go away." She told him exhaustion and anger creeping into her voice. Hoping he would listen she went over to the bed and began stripping the sheets. No flees, but little black bugs that were really called bed bugs. "That's disgusting." She said flinging the sheets out the window. She would have to buy a new mattress as well.   
Pulling it off the bed with one hand she dragged it to the door and tossed it into the hall. Maybe one of the other tenants could use it. The metal frame on the bed was decent enough. Then she turned to the kitchenette area where a stove, sink, and refrigerator stood. There was mold in the fridge the freezer was completely blocked up with frost and the stove had food caked on the burners. If she used it the whole place would smoke up.  
"What did I do to deserve this?" She asked the air going through the packet the agent had given her looking for the card. She could call the number on the back and see what the limit was. Hopefully it would be enough.  
"Nothing that I can see." Kusanagi answered her rhetorical question. She looked over at him gaze heated.  
"I thought I asked you to leave or do you want to try and kill me again?" She didn't wait for an answer before searching for a phone. There was one by the door but the cradle didn't work.  
"I won't try that again I assure you. Please accept my sincerest apologies." He pushed off the wall walking toward her. Momiji felt her usual flustering coming back and the closer he got the worse it was. Unable to deal with it she moved away looking for something to fix the phone.  
"Okay, if I can ask you a few things." Technically she wasn't supposed to know who he was or anything about him. She could use this as leverage. Her conscious tried to kick in here telling her that she'd never been like this before that she'd never try to use anything she had or knew against anyone she cared about, but she squashed that thought quickly. She wasn't who she'd been. Kusanagi took the phone off the wall and sat on the floor looking her over through silted eyes before finally nodding. He started taking the phone apart looking for the broken pieces.  
"Where's the Kushinada? I thought she was supposed to be with the TAC as well, but I haven't seen her yet." This was the best way to find out what they thought, but she knew it would hurt him. He looked up at her for a long moment before going back to his phone.  
"As far as we know, dead. She was kidnapped a few days ago and the Kushinada pulse was released a day or two after that. That only happens when she dies." Despite his best efforts to sound uncaring his voice wavered each time he said death. Momiji bit her lip as she thought catching herself just before he looked up.  
"I'm sorry. She must have meant a great deal to you." That was a underhanded way of saying it. She knew he cared for her it was the other way around that always seemed to be in jeopardy. He continued to look at her as he formed an answer.  
"More than she'll ever know." He sounded so lost when he said it that Momiji had to check the impulse to go to him and tell him the truth. She'd always known how much he cared even if he didn't always show it. It was just that she wasn't worthy of him, she'd betrayed him and he'd paid for it with his life. Turning away so he couldn't see this in her eyes she walked away a bit before sitting down on the carpet and laying on her back to stare at the ceiling. It had water rings covering most of it although at some point in time they'd tried to paint over it.  
"Why do you feel you have to be my baby-sitter? I may not know my own strength yet, but surely I can handle myself pretty well." She turned her head to look at him stabbing herself in the neck with a spike earring. She'd forgotten that it was in her ear until just now. Kusanagi continued to busy himself with the phone.  
"Honestly, I needed something to do along with the hope that maybe I can get you to help me search for the Kushinada. Even if she is dead, I'd like to see her body, know for sure before I bury her in my heart." It was completely honest and the most revealing thing he'd ever said to her about his feelings. He seemed to be able to tell a complete stranger more than he'd told her when she'd been the closest person to him. It hurt just a little.  
"Oh." Was all she said and she turned to stare back up at the ceiling. An uneasy silence filled the room as she tried not to let his words depress her to much and he tried to not get buried by his emotions. After a bit he fixed the phone and told her so moving away from where it was hung.   
Momiji got up and first called information to see if she could find someone to clean the apartment. Luck was with her and someone was still open so she called the landlord letting him know that she was going to be out and that he needed to let the cleaners in. Next she called the number on the card happily surprised by the amount in the bank. It was more than enough to supply her with everything she needed for a couple months.  
"I suppose you're coming shopping with me?" She said not really asking but more affirming. He nodded thrusting his fists back in his coat pockets and she opened the door motioning for him to proceed her. She didn't bother making sure the door was locked. Personally she hoped someone would ransack the room so she could move somewhere else but she knew it wasn't likely. Despite her earlier need to have her stomach empty it started growling halfway down the elevator. Kusanagi noticed and smiled a bit.  
"We should get something to eat first, my treat." Momiji favored him with a wry grin before leaving the elevator. Technically if she'd had a full stomach she would have lost it thanks to him so it was nice of him to offer. "Care to fly?" He asked as they stepped outside. The sun was setting early because there were storm clouds on the horizon. Momiji didn't give them a second glance and shook her head eyes wide with horror. Kusanagi chuckled softly then lead off down the street joining the crowds of people hurrying home.   
Instead of taking her to a moderate restaurant he went passed them to a very expensive steak house. He'd never taken Momiji here but they'd rarely gone anywhere. Inside he insisted on ordering for her and the amount of food placed before them was monstrous.  
"I can't possibly eat all this." She said having never seen so much meat in one place before. The waiter smiled politely before firmly handing her a steak knife and leaving.  
"You'll be amazed at how much you put away. Eventually it will wear off a bit but I'm afraid to tell you that you're now doomed to eating like a horse." He laughed at her obvious disbelief. Momiji had never seen him eat like a horse, although if it really did wear off after a while, it was possible she wouldn't have. The smell of food did make her stomach growl so taking her knife she dug in.  
Kusanagi was right. She ate her entire portion plus a large desert. She wasn't hungry anymore but she was by no means full. He offered to get her something else, but it was rapidly getting dark and she needed to buy the other things if she was going to sleep in any sort of comfort. He left to pay while Momiji waited by the door looking outside at the stormy weather.  
He hadn't talked about Momiji during the entire meal, but she could tell that she was on his mind. It was almost as if he had come to some conclusion about her being missing that as Dorien he wasn't willing to share with her. If she touched him she might be able to discern what it was but that would be invasion of privacy. And if it was something Momiji didn't want to know, well maybe it was better just to not mess with it. She felt him approach behind her and they stepped out onto the street without saying anything.  
The maturate store was closed but Momiji's luck was with her when they went to get the bedding. They had blow up air mattressess and she could put it on the floor instead of using the rickety bed. They also had some warm sheets and a comforter to go with it and she bought those as well as some basic groceries. Tomorrow she was going to have to get some plates and utensils but they didn't have the hands to carry that much home tonight. They made it to her apartment just as the first fat drops of water hit the ground. 


	6. Past Dreams

The mirror rose over eighty feet from the lake emerging in almost the exact center. Kusanagi stood atop it while Murakumo flew above until in a rage Kusanagi sported the armor from his shoulders and neck calling on the full powers of his seven matamas. He had one goal, just as Murakumo died. He had to shatter the mirror, his enemy had to stop him.  
"Good-bye Kusanagi." Murakumo said promising once again to rid the world of the Kushinada's protector. Momiji tried in a futile gesture to argue against their fighting but she knew Kusanagi's order to go back to the Iwatto to be the correct thing to do. In her minds eye she took a last look at the blue opaque mirror held by a plant of gigantic proportions and the man who had vowed to break it before tossing hersef back into the car and ordering Ryoko to take her back. Unlike them, she watched what she couldn't have normally seen.  
Murakumo's blade pierced Kusanagi's flesh severing his arm from his body. The man was virtuously helpless while the dark haired Murakumo asked why he couldn't just die. He tried to break the mirror, shoving into the rock hard surface with all his strength but his efforts were rewarded by a crack along with a blossoming pain in his stomach. Vision dimmed as the pain spread.  
Momiji tried to fly faster, preyed to reach him in time, but the dark form falling off the mirror was the form of her beloved and by the time she reached it, his body had already disappeared beneath the surface of the lack.  
She watched hoping that her eyes had betrayed her but no, it was she who had betrayed him. Kusanagi had known she was coming and to keep the enemy from her he had taken death upon himself. Never should it have happened, it was all her fault.  
Momiji sank to her knees in the cold water of the lake. Emerald eyes wide but unseeing as she felt the shock and the pain.   
"KUSANAGI!" She yelled desperation filling her voice.  
  
"Kusanagi." Momiji sat up panting. Her chest was on fire, her clothes soaked with sweat. Her eyes stared into the dark finding nothing to focus on except the blue light cast off by her matamas. Light came from under the sheets which she had all but kicked off as she tossed and turned during the nightmare.  
Slowly her heart stopped racing, her thoughts stopped spinning like dust in a sandstorm and she was able to convince herself that it was only a dream, although she could clearly remember the time when it wasn't.  
"Only a dream, only a dream, only a dream." She chanted over and over. Someday, maybe when she no longer felt like Judas, she would be able to believe it. On wobbly legs she crawled over the bed and made her way to the bathroom. She didn't bother turning on the light, she could see just fine without it. Silently she washed her face with water to clear the tears and sweat off.   
For the first time since she'd woken she felt a small shiver of cold and knew she was calming down. It always worked that way, first she was boiling hot, then freezing cold. She took a towel and wet it to wipe off her neck and arms and feeling better for it she went back into the bedroom.  
After finally convincing Kusanagi that she was perfectly capable of putting an air-bed together he'd gone home and she'd done just that. The old steel frame was leaning against the wall in the corner and the other corner was taken up by the blown up mattress and it's black and blue sheets. Momiji looked at it and knew she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. Instead she walked to the center of the room and stood, eyes closed.   
There was one good thing about the nightmares, and it was that the horrid dream had reminded her of what it felt like to fly. A few things were different, number of matamas and the fact that when she'd done it on her own it had been out of sheer desperation or under the influence of something/someone, but still it was flying.  
So now, as she'd done to track the Aragami in the past, she spread her awareness to her eight matamas tracing the lines of bower that emanated from them to herself, memorizing the way they felt and flowed. Then, after building up her courage, she pressed into them the need to fly. She formed a picture of it in her mind including the sensation of air against her face, the absence of ground beneath her feet, the joy of controlling ones movement and the desire to be somewhere else. When Momiji opened her eyes she found herself hovering three feet of the ground.  
"Very good for a beginner." A decidedly rude and male voice broke her concentration. The tenuous link with her matamas broke and she began to fall. Instead of hitting the ground, arms caught and held her keeping Momiji from harm.  
"I was trying to concentrate." She remarked in a vain attempt to sound mad. She couldn't manage it because of the insane joy she felt by being in Kusanagi's arms. The joy lasted but a brief moment as he tossed her on her bed. She glared up at him but in the dark he might not have seen it clearly.  
"What are you doing here Kusanagi? Aren't there other young women in greater Tokyo to torment?" She covered her awe of him with sarcasm trying to get herself back under control as she moved over to sit at the edge of her bed. Kusanagi leaned against the traitorous window that had let him in unannounced.   
"Don't flatter yourself. I just wanted to see what the TAC's latest recruit was up to." For a moment he turned serious his eyes narrowing down to focus on her. "Did you feel something about half an hour ago?" The question reminded Momiji of one he'd asked years ago that she'd taken the wrong way. This one, she knew better now, was all about Aragami and she wondered if it could have anything to do with her dream.  
"When I woke up, my matamas were glowing. That was about half an hour ago." It was a perfectly truthful answer that gave nothing away. Momiji was proud of herself.  
"Hmm... That might have been caused by the same thing, anything else?" She shook her head and he sighed. "Well then since we're both awake let's see you try to fly again." He made her last success sound like she'd just been fooling around and Momiji resented it. Even so she tucked the anger away for future use and got to her feet. A cold draft from the window made her shiver bringing to her attention that she was only wearing her new back skin tight tank-top and matching shorts. All the times that Kusanagi had barged in on her made Momiji almost to the effect of indignation at him seeing her in her pajamas. That did not make her immune to the cold.  
"Shut he window, jeeze what where you born in a barn?" She asked knowing that he knew little about his birth. She turned it into a joke and Kusanagi, after giving her an odd look, complied. Momiji resumed her stance in the middle of the room aware that he was watching her every move. She wondered what he saw.  
"Don't make any noise or I wont be able to do it." She warned turning her back to him and closing her eyes. This brought a chuckle from him. It was a good sound and she looked over her shoulder at him taking in his appearance for the first time that night.  
His red jacket was present as always but he didn't wear black on black underneath. Instead he had a pair of blue jeans and a white tee shirt on. His hair wasn't slicked back but tousled making Momiji's fingers fairly itch to smooth it back. All in all he looked rather boyish. She could easily make out the ripple of muscles hidden by the shirt proving that hew was no boy.  
"You wont even know I'm here." He made a joke of his own albeit a bad one to which Momiji rolled her eyes.  
"What-ever." She said exactly as Akiko had said in English. Without seeing his response she turned back and began the process of sensing her matama's and feeding them the picture of flying.  
During this she didn't have much time sense but still she knew that it took much longer than last time. True to his work Kusanagi made now sound. She floated almost a foot off the floor but no more than that and after an hour of trying to get higher she got so frustrated that her control snapped completely. As she fell back to the floor she had the urge to curse and throw something, preferably something that would shatter. The old patient and serene side of herself managed to keep her from doing such an unladylike thing, but she wanted to do it.  
"You'll get better." Kusanagi told her from beside the window. Momiji turned to face him wondering how he could know. He probably didn't but was just saying it to try and make her feel better. Unfortunately she didn't want to feel better. She walked into the kitchen flipping on the light before rummaging in the fridge. She pulled out two single sized cartons of orange juice, knowing that Kusanagi liked it, she tossed him one before opening her own.   
Then she slid down the wall by the fridge to sit on the floor. Kusanagi came forward to join her under the light pulling something from the inside pocket of his jacket. It was a book. Momiji wondered what Kusanagi would be doing with a book, any book.  
"Matsudera sent this over." He said. Momiji set her juice on the floor so she could catch the book which he tossed to her. The cover and binding were blank so she opened it. The book was about martial arts. "I guess she figured that you might be able to learn something from it." He said. Apparently he thought it was highly unlikely. Momiji thumbed through it.  
"The Aragami King Orochi taught me. When I was a baby he murdered my parents and implanted me with seven seeds. After that he took and raised me as best a plant could always training me to fight, to protect." Kusanagi's voice was soft and his eyes slid halfway shut as he spoke remembering. Momiji drank a sip of her drink eyes only for him. She knew the story, but it meant much more coming from him.  
"My first memories, other than those few of my parents, are of fighting stances and lessons of diversions and stealth. I knew of nothing else until I met the first Princess Kushinada. She was the first human to know of my existence, the only one who felt my presence, saw the fruits of my work. I protected her not only because it was what I had been created for, but because what I did finally mattered to someone." He took a few steadying breaths. It wasn't hard for Momiji to see the trouble in his eyes. Some of these feelings he had put away years ago, or tried to at least. Momiji now realized that his feelings for Kadee had been more than friendship but had not been the love he'd thought.  
"You cared for her because there as no one else?" Momiji asked as she was supposed to. It was a question to make him think, not for him to answer specifically. He nodded anyway. "And what about Momiji?" It felt odd speaking about herself in this manner.  
"Oh Momiji." He let out a soft breath. "My time with Kadee was like the twilight between day and night. Momiji was the promise of a new day, the sun on the horizon. I don't think I truly lived or felt before I met her." Never before had she heard him be so poetic about anything and she thought for a moment he might cry. She almost snorted at that thought. Kusanagi had never been willing to let Momiji see him in any other way than the arrogant self he pretended to be. Dorien wasn't about to see it either. His self assurance would kick in before that happened.  
"You probably think I'm a moron, but maybe that's why I don't think she's dead. I'm just not willing to let go of hope." He tried to sound sarcastic, turn his words into some sort of joke on him. Momiji knew better.  
"I bet that you'll manage to bring her back from wherever she is. If anyone can do it, you can." She gave him her winning smile hoping to cheer him up. It had some effect for he finished his juice quickly and stood up.  
"You ready to learn some of those moves?" He asked with a smile that promised torture. Momiji finished her own juice and stood up.  
"Do I have a choice?" She knew they didn't, either of them. In a way being an Aragami had been forced on both of them and now was the time to make something of it.  
  
She slammed against the mattress that had been set against the wall just for that reason. Despite rapid regeneration Momiji felt every bruise that she'd received since talking Kusanagi into showing her how to throw someone. She had though that this would involve him showing and her practicing, but no that was to be saved for later.   
Their neighbor on the side of the wall yelled loudly making a rude suggestion to which Kusanagi gave an even more vulgar reply. The man subsided with a threat to call the management. Momiji asked that if he did, could he please ask to have the bed frame removed. She giggled to herself over the thought and sat down to rest.  
"Ugg I think four hours is enough" She told Kusanagi who was just as sweat soaked as she. He nodded and opened the window letting in a refreshing blast of cold air.  
"Can't take more of me huh?" He asked facing the cold wind. Momiji tried to remember if he was always this full of himself and knew the answer right away.  
"No, I'm just so hungry I might try eating you. To bad I don't have any pots." She leaned back as the wind ruffled through her short hair. Kusanagi watched her closely for a moment. "What do you say we split and get cleaned up, then meet somewhere for breakfast. My treat this time." She offered and he nodded grabbing his jacket on his way out the window.  
"Don't you ever use the door?" She asked pulling herself upright. Oh her body hurt.  
"Only when I'm in respectable company." He mooch saluted her then made a show of climbing out the window and shutting it behind him. When she heard it close she went into the bathroom.  
"JERK!" Her voice was muffled by the water of the shower but if he'd been there the tone of voice would have been unmistakable. Half an hour later and clad in a horrid purple top and black pants she almost ran into him leaving the building. The store where she'd found the bed had an awful choice in clothes even for her chosen disguise. She only stopped messing with it when Kusanagi asked if she was taking off her bra.  
"I can't believe anyone who loved you would put up with being treated like that." She told him sharply as they entered a resturaunt. TO her surprise he actually thought about it.  
"She put up with a whole lot of things I never thought of till now." The door shut behind him and she didn't speak again till they were seated.  
"Maybe I'm doing her a favor then." Momiji told him trying to point out the small bit of irony in it. He wasn't to happy, but he saw it. All she got for that was a maybe.  
Afterward they walked to the TAC building, to Kusanagi's dismay. She wasn't about to try a repeat of yesterday's attempt at flight. Because they walked the person left to watch the roof missed them and the people inside the main office were in the middle of a heated discussion.  
"I don't care what the government reports say, I still don't trust her." Kome yelled over her husband who was trying to calm her down. There was a murmur of agreement from someone else, probably Sakura.  
"Aragami are not to be trusted. Carrot boy has proven he's human enough but this new one could become just like Murakumo. They don't know where the blue seeds came from, weather or not they were evil. They couldn't have been anyone including Orochi's second set." Sakura sounded intelligent for once in her life, something that astonished as much as hurt Momiji. True she hadn't mentioned anything about Dorien's past, she didn't know what it was, but she hadn't given them a reason not to trust her.  
"We don't have to trust her. Kusanagi's going to be with her most of the time and it's easy enough to make sure she's not in the building alone. The government is watching her as well so she can't take anything to the media." That was Kunikeda trying to placate everyone. Momiji crept closer to the open door, Kusanagi a silent shadow at her back. He could have given her away but he didn't.  
"What about Momiji?" Matsu's voice was just as soft as ever but Momiji had a hard time believing that she was in on this. Of all of them she'd thought Matsudera would be the most understanding.  
"As long as Kusanagi thinks there's a chance, there's hope. We don't have sanction for another search but I've been keeping an ear out in all the right channels. If someone has her they'll show eventually." Kunikeda didn't sound hopeful but Momiji thought he might be blaming the younger man for not letting his faster daughter go.  
"So we watch Dorien." Ryoko ordered. "Make sure she isn't anywhere near anything important. We can use her inexperience to keep the government from getting mad that she isn't in the thick of things. Both Kome and Sakura are right, this creature is not to be trusted. She could very well be an Aragami spy." And that was it. There was movement in the office but not in the hallway. Momiji was frozen in shock. Finally she blinked and her throat worked. She spoke out loud but it was only for her won benefit.  
"Creature... I'm a creature now. Do they think i asked for this?" Didn't they understand that she'd been kidnapped, taken from her life and forced into the one she now lived.  
Momiji knew of little else but the extreme unjustness of it ad the desire to be somewhere else, anywhere else. Without thinking she bolted for the stairs faster than thought taking them three at a time until she burst out into the morning light. She barely registered someone's startled face but her focus was on the cool, fresh air. It wasn't enough.  
She kept moving to the edge where she threw herself into the sky. Her feet didn't touch the ground as she raced forward looking for some measure of safety and comfort. What comfort she had once found both in her own home and in Kusanagi's strong capable arms was denied her by actions she herself had committed. Now all she had was a fake home with fake furnishings, a fake name, fake identity, a fake life. The only constant was that he man she loved but couldn't touch would follow her and that she was one of the monsters she had sacrificed her life to destroy.  
  
It was a cough or a sneeze or some such noise that woke her up. She was sure that he hadn't meant to, the absolute stillness following told her so, but now she was awake so it didn't matter. She rolled over to face Kusanagi tears in her eyes. She knew her eyes were puffy and red. That her face was splotched was a given. What she didn't know was how someone could say or even think such horrid things. Until now almost everyone had liked the sweet innocent sacrifice girl that would and had given her life for a beloved country. It was so different being unknown, not trusted and unliked.  
"You look like Momiji used to when she cried." Kusanagi told her bluntly, no compassion in his voice. Momiji wanted to turn back over and start crying again, to say 'that's because I am Momiji'. Instead she sat up and dried her eyes.  
"Do you believe what they said about me?" She asked looking right at him so he couldn't dodge the question. He looked right back pushing off the wall and coming to stand right before her. He held out a loved hand and pulled her upright so he could look closer.  
"No, I don't. There's a look in your eyes that I've seen before, and no one with that look could betray someone."Momiji flinched at his words. She had done just that. Betrayed him.  
"Don't say that, you don't know me." She said trying to look away. Kusanagi wouldn't let her.  
"You're right, I don't know you, but I doubt you purposefully betrayed anyone." He slit his eyes to bore holes into hers and his gloved hand captured her chin.  
"I got someone killed." She told him flatly. He didn't look shocked or even phased. Kusanagi looked like Kusanagi. Finally he let her go.  
"It happens all the time, I've done it myself. It doesn't always mean betrayal. It was a different life." And that was his final word on the subject. Momiji didn't have the heart to continue arguing so she sat back down on the bed and closed her eyes wondering who he had gotten killed.  
"So what's the plan? You keep me locked up and out of the way so they can do whatever it is that they do?" She opened an eye to watch him nod, then shut it again.  
"Something like that." He ran his fingers through his hair which Momiji took note of. A quick peek let her take in his black shirt and pants. Someone must be doing his laundry.  
"I don't believe this." Momiji muttered throwing herself back on her bed to look up at the ceiling. "What a crappy week." A clink of bottles from the kitchen area made her lift her head. Kusanagi had a small six pack of bottles that looked remarkable like bear. Instead of accusing him of something she waited to see what he would do. He came over and handed her a bottle then removed his coat and sat on the floor by her bed. Inspecting the bottle she found it not to be beer, but something called Vanilla Crème Soda.  
"Something I discovered a few days ago." he told her opening his bottle and taking a swig. His eyes closed languidly and he let out his breath slowly. Momiji giggled at his little ritual. "Something that makes the world right again for a moment." He said it with such honesty that Momiji quickly sat up and opened her own bottle. Kusanagi held up his and she clinked her bottle against his.  
It was sweet and syrupy without being thick or making a horrible aftertaste. Cold and smooth she savored the taste her expression much like the one he'd just made. She didn't care when he laughed at her. She decided right then that she was going to do whatever she could to make him laugh more.  
"It's really good. I've never had this before." She took another sip knowing he was going to reach the end of the bottle soon enough.  
"I figured. I just barely found it and I thought that after a day like this we could both use it." At that he had her confused. Around Momiji she had to drag any act of kindness out of him. He'd gotten better over the years but still this was highly unusual. He must feel really sorry for her. That was it, pity. He was being nice because he pitied her. The thought depressed her so she took another swig choking when he spoke again.  
"What was it like?" He asked absently. He was trying to pretend that he wasn't really interested but for some reason he was.  
"What did what feel like?" Momiji's throat was sore from trying to inhale liquid. She laid back on the pillow.  
"The matamas, what was it like?" His back was to her so she could only guess what his face looked like. His shoulders sloped pulling his shirt crooked and his deep bronze skin contrasted sharply. This gave her little fore knowledge about what to say so she started at the beginning.  
"I was kidnapped outside a club, I'm not sure where exactly it was. All I wanted was a little freedom from my life, a little time to myself. It was a dumb idea, one I've regretted every moment since. They put me in a government car and dragged me into the dead zone and drugged me to knock me out. When I woke up I was in a large room with glass walls and there was a stand on the wall with the matamas in glass beakers. I didn't know what they were then.  
"When the people, three of them, came in I tried to ask what was going on, tried to figure out what they were doing but all they would tell me was stupid stuff about incisions and the like. It wasn't till they were done that it began to hurt. I thought I was going to explode from the pain, then I blacked out. Later they told me that i Died. They had to bring me back with a crash cart. Other than being scared and angry I don't remember much about how it felt.   
"I guess it's to much like the rest of my life. Always something or someone else making choices and decisions for me. The one time I did something for myself, this happened." She stripped off a mitt so she could look at the matama and the slightly greenish skin around it. Flexing her hand Momiji watched how the muscles and veins moved around it. Kusanagi watched out of the corner of his yes.  
"Are you still afraid?" He asked so softly that she almost didn't hear him which was considerable for her new hearing.  
"Of the matamas? No. I haven't been afraid of them since the first one. I'm scared of what might happen to be, but I'm also scared of what might happen to you. You're my anchor in all this." She rolled on her side and looked at him making sure to catch his eye. Yet again she seemed to have startled him. It was unusual. As long as she'd known him he'd protected her even against his will. She'd always depended on him for safety. No she depended on him for training, knowledge even maybe friendship a little. Things were so different now, she wondered if they would ever be the same.  
Apparently all the seriousness was to much for Kusanagi. Momiji could have cataloged the changes as they came over his face and he settled on an amused 'I know you want me' look.  
"Can't live without me can you?" He asked joyfully knowing she should have to say yes. Momiji rolled her eyes and bashed him with her pillow.  
"I hope Momiji beat you, often." She sat up, careful of her drink, waiting for him to throw the pillow back. He did and she laughed at him. He had a grin as well and she was glad it wasn't the one he'd had before. This one was much more natural. Slowly she finished the drink and got up to throw it away.  
"So now what?" He threw her his empty bottle which she put in the recycle bag. He was already moving the mattress.  
"Time to practice those holds and throws I taught you." At Momiji's gleeful grin he grimaced. Pay-back time.  
  
"FOR THE LAST TIME, I'M CALLING THE POLICE!" The overly grumpy man next door had threatened them at east once an hour for the last six. Neither Momiji or Kusanagi believed him, but they did stop. Momiji was sore from throwing around Kusanagi all afternoon and he looked slightly squashed. Her air-bed had two holes in it that were drying with patches. Relieved she flopped on the ground.  
"I haven't worked so hard in my life!" She informed Kusanagi who glowered at her as he sat down gingerly.  
"Never would have guessed." He told her. Earlier he'd said that he thought she was purposefully trying to rip his arm off. Momiji's own arms felt about ready to drop from the sockets. Just then her stomach growled.  
"Think I can move to eat?" She asked herself mostly before managing to get up. Maybe she'd just order out for both of them. She asked what he wanted then called getting extra for herself. They made quick work of the meal.  
"I understand the importance of learning to fight human sized Aragami, but what about the really big ones. Like the fire breathing toad." The boxes had to be thrown out so she hurried and did it.  
"Generally you go for the matamas, where ever it is. Once the matama is gone, usually either the creature dies or reverts to what it was." he leaned back against the wall his eyes closed. Momiji thought he looked tired.  
"So do they try to do the same to us? Destroy the matamas?" These were questions she already knew the answer to but ones Dorien wouldn't. She kept trying to do the things Dorien would do but was often forgetful.  
"No, the matama's aren't what give us intelligence, just everything else. Generally they just try to kill us. Matamas are second." Now he was completely slumped against the wall.  
"Kusanagi, why don't you go home, take a hot bath ad get some sleep. You look terrible." He made a face at her despite her kind voice. It was the first time Momiji had seen him look anything but neat or at least orderly. She doubted that he was sleeping much and her nightmares weren't helping. She was going to go to the store and get some sleeping pills so she wouldn't dream.  
"I'm supposed to keep an eye on you." He said half heartedly. It wouldn't take much to convince him.  
"Let's go down to the store, get something to help us sleep, and then you can go home. I'm not going anywhere till you barge in on me in the morning." She grabbed her coat and brought him his. He opened one eye and looked at her. "I don't need a baby-sitter, I swear." Pointedly she held out the jacket which finally he took.  
  
It was much darker now than it had been say half an hour ago when they'd started out to the store. A car accident nearby had clogged up the streets and it had taken them much longer to walk to the store than either of them liked. Finally pills in had Kusanagi had taken off for home flying so he wouldn't have to deal with any more people. Momiji herself walked watching the people around her. She was dismayed at how they all flocked to the accident to goggle at someone else's misfortune.  
So intent on watching she never noticed as a group of people surrounded her and started herding her down a darker side street or that they had effectively cut her off from anyone who could help her. When her eyes lost sight of the lights and her ears could barely hear the klaxons from the police cars was when she finally started paying attention to her surroundings.  
"Hey pretty, wanna play with us?" A young man with a small baton in his hands stood before her and it was to this man that she was being led. He had dyed black hair more earrings than brain cells and a nose ring that looked like one you'd find on a bull. His clothes here barely more than tatters his pants full of holes. His shoes were obviously stolen because they were the only new clothes on him. From five feet away Momiji could pick up a reek of fried food.   
"Come on little girl, we know you wanna party with us." Someone else called. Momiji was poked in the side by another youth who also carried a baton. This one looked almost identical to the one in front of her minus the nose ring and the new shoes. Even his hair was dyed the same way. There was someone else on her other side, just out of view and two people behind her.  
"What do you want with me?" She asked her voice sounding weak and frightened. The nose ring guy laughed at her reveling in her fear. Momiji swallowed a couple times then tried to sound braver. "What do you want? You can have my wallet, just let me go." That got a round of laughs from everyone and she cringed back from the sound eyes going back and forth between the two she could see. It really didn't look good and she knew she didn't have anything to use as a weapon.  
"We just want to party." The people behind her snickered and she was shoved forward almost into the guy before her. She was poked again with the batons drawing a his of pain from her. This they seemed to like for she was faced with a malicious gleam from the ones she could see.  
"I don't want to party, or play with you. Can't you just take my money and leave me alone?" She pulled out her wallet and offered it to the guy before her. He took it but didn't open it.  
"Why don't you want to party with us? We promise it will be a blast!" They all howled with laughter this time. She was missing something and she knew it but she did know what happened to most women who were assaulted like this. It wasn't something pleasant. Someone behind her flicked out a knife and make a long gash in her purple shirt before she could jump away. He hadn't gotten any skin but that wasn't the goal.  
"Please, let me go. I'm not any fun, I'm boring really." There had to be a way to convince them that they didn't want her. Momiji had to find a way.  
"Now what do you mean by that? Just you being here with us makes it a party. Our gang doesn't have any women in it, and we've missed they're company." It was the one on her right side and he jabbed her again with the baton. If they treated their women members like this she wasn't surprised at it.  
"It's time to party." They had all treated the one with the nose ring as the leader and it was he who gave the verdict. Momiji was struck from behind with such force that she fell to her knees. She heard someone unzipping their pants nearby.  
"No, no... just take my money. Come one, there's a card in there with plenty of money on it." It was her last gamble. She didn't realize what a mistake she had made. Tired of her offering it the leader did indeed open her wallet and pull out the card. With a sharp intake of breath he looked from the card to her then motioned some of the others by him. It was only Momiji's advanced hearing that let her know what they were saying.  
"Doesn't your cousin have one of these?" He asked one of the look-a-likes. The boy nodded. "And he works for the defense department doesn't he?" Again a nod. The leader's eyes narrowed and he looked at Momiji who looked back at him fear creeping up in her throat. "She can identify us to them, and they'll get everyone out looking for us." It was true enough. The government stuck together. "We'll have to kill her, then have our fun."  
He was looking right at Momiji as he said it knowing that she couldn't hear her and smiled sadistically. Some of the other boys looked just as maniacal and Momiji began to fear not for her virginity but for her very life which they showed no remorse in taking. Again they surrounded her and she froze not knowing what to do. It was the arm that grabbed her shoulder that spurned her into action. It was exactly one of the moves that Kusanagi had showed her earlier and she grabbed the wrist and pulled her body down dragging the boy with it so he flew over her shoulder and into one of the boys in front of her. She missed the leader by a foot and he continued to watch her with a look that reminded her of Mr. Smith. This, perversely, made her mad.   
The next person who tried to grab her met a wall with a sick thunk when his head hit giving Momiji one less attacker. She paid far to much attention to it and missed the kick aimed for her chest. They missed and got her stomach instead forcing all the air from her lungs and pain the blossom throughout her body. She went down on all fours trying to get air back into her lungs before she passed out. A baton rapped her on the shoulder and that arm dropped out from under her.  
Not for the first time in her life Momiji felt an overwhelming felling of helplessness and anger pervade her entire being. She grew hot, then cold, then hot again as the rage fed her matamas until finally something burst. Her jacket erupted off her back in shreds from the blades of seemingly steel that appeared on her arms just above the elbow. The rose out of her flesh over two and a half feet till they were over her head and curved to almost the same angle as her body. She could hear a cry of astonishment from the boys and at that point her mind became a spectator while her body flew into action.  
One of them had made the mistake of trying to come up behind her and the nanosecond his stench reached her nose, her ears caught the footstep and the boy was evicerated. A wave of blood drenched Momiji covering her from head to toe. The other boys were frozen in shock and she used this moment to approach the leader. The moment he saw her he turned to run which was a big mistake. She was on him in an instant using her blades to rip and slice. The only sound he made was a bloody gurgle as he died. When she turned around to the others, the ally was empty. Slowly she walked back towards the street picking up her wallet where it had fallen. After tucking it in her pocket she looked around.  
It was only then that Momiji's mind returned from it's seat in the passenger side of her brain. She took one look at what she'd done, the smell of blood and vomited. When se could throw up no more she stood and looked again horror filling her very being. Someone how she escaped.  
  
Cold air made her flinch and that was the first thing she'd felt in what seemed like forever. She heard someone at the window beside her but it had been open all night and he needn't open it to get in. Not moving she continued to stare at the puddle she'd made on the floor.  
"My GOD! What happened?!" Came Kusanagi's voice somewhere between frantic and shocked. Momiji was to locked in herself to answer. "Dorien," He called someone else's name, one she didn't recognize. "Dorien, look at me." He called it again and she vaguely wondered why. "Don't just stand there like some sort of princess, look at me!." Princess was a familiar term, just enough to make Momiji look at him. He saw the vacant look in her eyes and knew something terrible had happened. She was in shock. Quickly he moved over to her and picked her up not caring that she was covered in blood or that he'd probably just ruined everything he was wearing. Walking carefully so he didn't jar her, he managed to get her into the bathroom and out of the bloody clothes leaving her underwear on before turning the shower on. She was facing the water and choked before he turned her away from it. Then gently he started rinsing the blood off her.   
After a moment or to he drew back surprised. What he'd thought were long gashes on her arms hand turned out to be very sharp and Kusanagi barely managed to keep from cutting himself on them. When washed off they turned out to be two very long and sharp blades, somewhat like his own but not quite. There were more like Murakumo's than Kusanagi's. Carefully he massaged the muscled just below and beside the blades and after what seemed like forever the finally began to retract.   
It took him another half an hour to get all the blood off of her. Thankfully enough none of it was her own, and she only had a few bruises on her back and abdomen that were rapidly fading. Turning off the water he wrapped her in a couple towels before carrying her back into the other room. She was shaking now and he tried to use one of the towels to warm her up. After a while she finally stopped and the blank look was slowly going away. He kept toweling her arms and hair till it was dry.  
  
She knew what was happening, the shower, the clothes, him drying her off but it took so much effort for her to want to care. Why should she care? The people she had sacrificed herself for had almost successfully killed her, had tried to violate her in one of the most personal ways. A soft murmur broke into her thoughts, an almost hum something she recognized. It was the same song she had hummed when she'd bandaged up Kusanagi after a battle. She'd found him in her backyard cut up and bleeding. He probably didn't know he was humming it, but Momiji looked up and met his eyes. He looked so concerned for her it was heart warming.  
Wrapped only in towels she threw herself into his arms a sob escaping her throat. Surprised, he held on and let her cry herself out continuing to hum and stroking the back of her neck with his fingers. She was far from finished when she managed to pull herself out of his arms and look up at him. Momiji had finally realized how wrong he would think this was.  
"I'm sorry." She whispered between hiccups. His eyes were questioning but he didn't say anything. "I didn't mean to throw myself at you, with Momiji gone, it's kind of um.. inappropriate. I don't want you to think that I'm..." She couldn't bring herself to say what she was thinking. That maybe somehow she was using his hurt to put herself into his life. Kusanagi shook his head and pulled her back into his arms.  
"If anyone would understand one friend comforting another it would be Momiji." She rested her head against his chest the tears coursing down her face silently this time. She was able to draw strength from his touch and for once she couldn't sense any of his emotions through their contact. Somehow this comforted her.  
"I didn't realize what was happening until they'd gotten me out of the flow of people on the street." She told him using the towel to wipe tears away from her eyes. Kusanagi sensed that this was hard for her made no changes to what he was doing but tried to be supportive.  
"There were five that I saw, but there could have been more, I'm not exactly sure but I know that there was a leader and everyone seemed to be listening to him. They wouldn't take my wallet at first, they said they wanted to party. They didn't, they wanted me. Just before they would have ... They finally took the wallet and opened it. Someone recognized the government card, they knew I'd turn them in, knew that the government would be after them. After that I just felt so frustrated, got so angry that I think my mind took a hike, my body took over. I grew blades on my arms kinda like the ones on that anime the Guyver, that one.... " She caught herself before saying 'the one that we watched together. Kusanagi missed it. "Well I killed two of them for sure maybe more I don't really remember." The tears had stopped and she shuddered with horror at the memory of all the blood.  
"I hope I never have to do that again Mamoru." She used his first name as she rarely had as Momiji. Somehow it made her words more personal. "I don't think I was ever meant to kill like that." She closed her eyes and listened to him breathe for a moment.  
"Somehow I don't think you were either." He agreed. 


	7. The Battles We Fight

Everything had been cleared through the T.A.C. Excuses had been made to the local police and their investigation was dropped. Momiji, although deeply shaken, had been reassured over and over again by both members of the TAC and Kusanagi that she had done only what she should have to remain alive and unhurt. That didn't make it any easier for Momiji to face the fact that she was a murderer. She was as bad as the worst of her kind, those condemned by society for crimes just as heinous as hers. She got of because she was doing it to protect herself, they were condemned because the had done it for some other reason less excusable.

Finally after almost two weeks of moping Kusanagi took her aside and looked at her sternly. She wouldn't meet his eyes so he grabbed her chin and made her look at him.

"I don't know who you think you are, but we can't afford for you to continue on like this. You're part of a team now and we need you capable of doing your part. You aren't the only one who's killed before nor will you be the last." His eyes were so intense that he no longer needed the bone breaking grip on her to keep her attention. Of course he had killed before, protecting her or her twin Kadee but she was the Kushinada; Protector of Life. She could hardly tell him this though and he was right and she didn't want to admit it. Although the TAC and begrudgingly admitted her into their ranks as Dorien she really was part of the team. She was supposed to be training and helping them fight the Aragami.

Once Kusanagi and decided that Momiji as Dorien must have come to the same conclusion he let her go and stepped away. The sounds of life around them, which had faded away during their one sided conversation now came back and Momiji realized they were on the street in front of everyone.

"You are right of course Kusanagi." She said looking away from him over the treetops of the park across the street. Kusanagi leaned against the store building next to them and looked at her.

"Damned strait." He had the cocky look back on his face and it struck Momiji as odd at how serious he'd been and how much her actions had effected him. She wondered why but since Dorien wouldn't have thought anything of it she was supposed to act as though she didn't either. Momiji tried to think of a smart retort but the moment she opened her mouth to say something pain flooded her body spreading out from all of her matamas to engulf her body.

Unable to breath let alone stand when the pain faded a bit she found herself on all fours dizzy and seeing spots. Kusanagi stood beside her in pain but not nearly as effected and he was searching the area trying to ascertain where the source of their troubles was. Another wave hit Momiji but this time when it stopped she didn't just sit there. Yes she was dizzy but nothing was going to change unless she did something. Relying on her memories of the last time she carried a matama she closed her eyes and through them look around trying to sense something. She found what she was looking for within seconds.

"It's below us." She croaked out forcing lungs that could barely support life to allow speech. As reward for the attempt she grew even weaker and spots started dancing before her eyes. Kusanagi held onto a light post and leaned over the street looking down a storm grate. Only darkness met his eyes.

"You sure? I don't-" An explosion of water cut him off as the storm grate flew up into the air pushed by a twenty foot water spout. The water continued to soak them and the surrounding area but the grate fell smashing into someone's windshield. There was a screech of tires on wet asphalt then the crunch of twisting metal. Momiji hoped that whoever it was had survived. All down the street water spouts sprang up from grates and manholes covering the sewer and the storm drains. She tried to stand but another wave of pain overtook her. 

This time instead of making her weak it shot energy throughout her body till she felt like she was going to explode. At millions of points all over her body, pure red energy poured out and a primal scream wrenched itself from her throat as the pain became unbearable. Momiji could feel her skin parting as not only did the blades on her arms emerge but the protective armor of spikes and plates she'd only seen on Morakumo erupted from her shoulders and back. She clenched her hands in pain only to receive more pain when her elongated fingernails cut into her palms and her shoes were ripped to shreds as her toenails tried to do the same. Around her neck formed more plates with such a speed that one clipped her on the cheek when she turned her head. Down the front of her chest to just above the first matama was the last of the plates.

Her jacket was torn to shreds but mercifully the white sleeveless midriff shirt she'd been wearing remained in tact. Remarkably once the transformation was complete she no longer felt any pain.

"What the hell?" She asked standing up in the pouring water. Catching a glimpse of herself in the store window of the building they'd been by she uttered a cry not of pain but of complete shock. 

Plates of what look like steel protruded over her shoulders and covered the uppermost portion of her arms while an array of spikes the same color and shape of the ones on her arms came up over her head out of her back. The same steel plates went halfway up her neck leaving her free to turn her head but not much else. Her fingernails had grown almost four inches and along with the long blades by her elbows she had a series of two to four inch long mini blades running from her elbow to her wrist in a strait line down the back of her arms.

Aside from the physical aspects Momiji had never felt so much power coursing through her body except the moment before her death in the rite of Matsuri. This was what it felt like the be an Aragami, and it was so similar to the power of the Kushinada that Momiji didn't know what to think.

Breathless and slightly scared Momiji finally managed to come back to her senses. Her throat was raw and every muscle seemed a little sore but it was a good sore, like after an excersise.

"Interesting improvements. Now you really look like an Aragami." It was hard to tell if that was a compliment, coming from Kusanagi as it was, or a complaint. For once Momiji was to awed to care.

Meanwhile the street had filled to overflowing and from the center manhole a blob of a gray jelly like substance was ozzing out with small green flecks of something floating inside. The blob grew larger with every passing moment soon taller than they and still moving. Momiji took to the air followed closely by Kusanagi but she faltered when a faint voice called out to her.

"Kushinada." Came the whisper as soft as the breeze but sorrowful enough to make her want to cry only from hearing it. She couldn't discern the source but the general direction was from the blob growing in the street. Kusanagi hadn't noticed anything as he was floating higher up watching the monster thoughtfully. Sirens wailed in the distance coming closer. Momiji alit on the corner of a building chewing on her lower lip as she thought.

Only once before had an Aragami spoken to her in such a manner, but that had been years ago. Since then they'd just wanted to kill her so why was this one different? The voice came again, louder this time and Momiji thought she saw Kusanagi twitch. Could he hear it? There had been times when they could sense each others thoughts even without the mitamas, could he hear it though her?

"DORIEN!" Her assumed name was belted over a mega-phone. The TAC van had pulled up on an adjoining road and with Kome climbing out from behind the wheel they were all springing out from the back doors. Ryoko was the one with the megaphone while Kunikeda was fitting a bazooka like weapon on his shoulder. "CATCH!" Ryoko yelled and Kunikeda fired a small silver ball up in the air. Momiji leapt to catching turning the small ball over in her hands until she found a small seam.

The ball split in half revealing two ear pieces with little microphones on them. Momiji tossed Kusanagi one and put hers on.

"Why the hell didn't you call us the moment you sensed an Aragami and what the hell is going on?" Kunikeda's voice blasted over the little speakers. In the back round was Ryoko trying to get him to calm down.

"You see a pay phone around here old man?" Was Kusanagi's snide remark. Momiji could literally see steam coming from Kunikeda's ears but he didn't yell again.

"Just get down here, both of you!" He ordered instead. Momiji grudginly complied hoping she wasn't in for anything. She received shocked looks from almost everyone although Ms. Matsudera had that gleam in her eye that said 'oh gooddy new toy to play with.'

"Plant boy meet plant girl." Muttered Kome under her breath. Momiji would have blushed if it hadn't been true. At least she was lucky enough to have kept her top. One spike in the wrong place and she didn't want to think about it.

"What happened." Matsu actually sounded concerned despite the malicious grin that was still in her eyes.

"I guess it was a reaction to the Aragami." Momiji motioned over her shoulder careful of the blades. She would have to be extra careful to keep from impaling herself. Kusanagi always made moving seem so easy and he'd never hurt her with one of his.

"Makes sense. I first got mine when Orochi first went after the Kushinada." He didn't notice when Momiji jumped slightly at his phrasing. Still the thought of that day was enough to give her goose bumps.

"Well let's stop dillydallying there's an aragami to stop." Only Kunikeda would use a world like dillydallying but his voice had the bark of an order.

"Dorien could you please get me a piece of the Aragami so I can get a DNA test before you two destroy it." Matsu asked pulling her equipment out of the back of the van. Yeagashi had the computers up and running so Matsu started plugging the equipment into the computers. Momiji turned to the Aragami with a sigh. Now was the moment of truth, she supposed.

Leaping into the air she hovered over the van stealing herself for this, then in an eye blink of motion she was hurtling toward the Aragami. Aiming for a section at the top and to the left. Shoulder forward she used her arm blades to make the first incision. A sharp mid-air summersault reversed her to where she could make a second slice and remove the chunk of goo before it could reattach to the main body.

The Jell-O like substance tried to escape her fingers but she was careful not to lose any. Only a moment had passed before she was back on the ground dropping the small slab in the silver tray waiting for it. Matsudera was ready for her and as soon as Momiji's hands were clear she activated the electromagnetic field. The blob sufficiently contained she turned her attention to all the little probes.

"_Kushinada."_ The voice whispered in her ear. Momiji jumped slightly the voice being close enough to have come from behind her. Kusanagi looked around a suspicious look on his face. She had to kill this thing before it gave her away. Grasping the small piece of ceramic in her pocket for good luck she took to the air again approaching the blob. A large green mass had risen from the street to take place in what must have been the blob's head. Arms began peeling up from the sides in a tentacle sorta way.

Kusanagi was following her closely taking as intense a look at the monster as she. The only place it could be hiding a matama was in the green mass but there were now more than twelve tentacles whipping around. Kusanagi passed her slowly so that she could see his muscles flex a moment before he launched at the Aragami a war cry on his lips. Two tentacles were laying on the ground when his attack was over but they tried to wiggle back to the Aragami. Using a burst of energy Momiji seared them until only smoking chunks were left.

"I don't think that's going to work." She said as the amputated limbs were replaced by new tentacles. Kusanagi joined her in the air watching the Aragami.

"I got that idea." He grunted. There was an explosion from the TAC area. Kome had a real bazooka on her shoulder and a wide grin on her face. Turning back to the Aragami they watched as the crater in it's side disappeared.

"It's algae based. Without the lipids we used to use you'll just have to find the matama. Dorien if you could see if you can sense it while Kusanagi keeps it distracted." Kunikeda told them while Matsu kept giving them information. Momiji nodded to herself running a hand through her short hair while Kusanagi hauled off at the Aragami, probably to take out some aggression. Closing her eyes she reached out with her mind searching for the blue seed of the Aragami. As she expected it was in the big green blob. Where else would it have been hidden she could see through the creature everywhere else.

"It's in the green blob in it's head." She informed everyone via the headset. Kusanagi growled in reply. Watching from above she could see him flit from tentacle to tentacle hurting the monster as much as possible as he made his way towards the center. He was concentrating to much on his goal and didn't see the tentacle that slammed him into a building.

"Kusanagi!" She yelled chasing after him. The building had crumbled around his body showing how hard exactly he'd hit it. Kusanagi himself was a bit dazed and didn't realize that another strike was aimed at him. Putting on a burst of speed Momiji made it just in time to block him with her body. The tentacle took her fool on the back and she hissed in pain bracing herself against the building over Kusanagi. Her eyes were wide open but she saw only red light as the skin of her back felt like it was peeling off. 

When the pain faded and she could see again Kusanagi was looking up at her, an odd look in his eyes. An explosion from behind them made her turn around and momentarily forget the pain. Kome's bazooka blast had left all of the tentacles in a mass of confusion giving her one shot at the matama. Bunching herself up against the wall she gave one good push to propel herself at the Aragami.

Moments before she actually came in contact she extended her arms so that the spikes would cleave the goo around her body. Diving in, the momentum of her push brought her all the way through the other side.

Without looking back she flew on to land in front of the TAC van and the TAC members. Slowly she opened her hands and let the shimmering blue seed fall. Before it had barely moved down she had unleashed two shards of energy to split the matama first in half then in half again. The pieces rained down twinkling on the asphalt. Momiji eyed each of the TAC members in turn then flew of to help Kusanagi.

  


The blast of the air conditioner had goose pimples traveling up her arms except where the plates and spikes protruded. Even standing in from of the window in the sun she couldn't get warm. Maybe it was the beeping of the machines, the suction cups attached to various parts of her body or even the fact that her back had been nearly flayed but Momiji continued to feel chilled to the bone. Neither could she get that soft echoing voice out of her head. It had been years since she'd heard the voice of an Aragami in her head except Kusanagi's not that she considered him an Aragami but this was differenty anyway. How she couldn't explain.

"having never gotten to examine an eight matamaed Aragami before" matsu glared at Kusanagi, "Especially in this form, I'm not exactly sure what to expect but from the guesses i can make i would say that even in this form your strength surpasses anything we've seen from both Kusanagi or Morokumo. It's okay to assume that with the training of your physical and mental facilities that both of you could easily outstrip what we know now." She told both Momiji as Dorien and Kusanagi who was sitting in a chair by the door. Kusanagi didn't say anything and Momiji didn't know what to say. She continued to stand there trying to keep her shoulder spikes from hitting the window. The machines continued to beep trying to fill the silence.

"Well then." Matsu said." Kusanagi your turn." She started removing the apparatus on Momiji.

"Do I gatta?" He asked removing his trench coat and tossing it over the chair. Momiji tried hard not to watch his rippling muscles or the way they moved when he walked.

"Of course. I want to make sure that hard knock didn't damage that thick skull of yours." Momiji smirked. That sounded like something she would have said. Finally unhooked, Momiji moved to stand over by Kusanagi's chair while he was fighting with Matsudera and soon they were so wrapped up in their struggle that neither of them noticed when Momiji slipped out of the room.

Outside she felt better but the depression wouldn't go away. She was in no way surprised when she found herself in front of the TV station before the little shrine by the oak tree. Feeling still cold and even more depressed she went to wrap her arms around her self but couldn't. Concentrating she pulled her armor and weapons back under her skin then hugged herself.

In the shrine were the few remaining pieces of the matama that had belonged to the second oak once standing before the studio. When it had been cut down the oak had come in contact with the matama and with it's feelings of loss and depression the oak had come back looking for a way to rejoin it's partner.

Sensing Momiji's similar feelings she reached out to the young Kushinada trying to find solace. Now having the same thing happen for a second time Momiji wondered why it had called to her. Wash she sharing some new emotion with them? Other than being lost and alone she didn't feel to different than she had. She still wanted to be worthy of his love and to be able to keep him from having to protect her all the time. She had half of that now but the other half was further away than ever. He thought that Momiji was dead and that this new person was someone else entirely.

Night had fallen around her and a thick fog began to role in. Before leaving Momiji held her hand and it's matama over the center of the shrine reaching to the small flicker of sentience that resided within. All she could sense was a deep contentment and appreciation which made her smile just a little.

"How'd you hear about this place?" Came a voice from the fog behind her. Whirling in place Momiji tried to see who was there but the fog only swirled empty.

"All the TV and radio stations talked about it. I though everyone knew." A rush of adrenaline filled her and the small bit of fear began to fade.

"Good answer." The voice almost sounded-she knew who it was.

"There a reason you're interrogating me Mr. Kusanagi?" She asked trying to make her tone icy. It was hard to do when she really just wanted to cry. The fog swirled again before she could make out his form while he walked towards her with that closed off expression she knew so well.

"Just wondering how you knew of this place. It used to mean a great deal to Momiji." He kept his tone of voice neutral so Momiji had no clue what he was about.

"Yeah so? This was the only place i remembered an aragami had been killed. They weren't exactly advertised." She sounded casual and hopefully a little snooty. She must have for he just turned sideways so she could walk past. Slightly confused by his behavior Momiji took to the air and with Kusanagi following she beat a hasty retreat home.


	8. Discovered Anew

Three Aragami and one rabid animal attack later found Momiji wiping blood off her face while Kunikeda yelled at her thoroughly. She had been alone for the first time in two months when a large chipmunk, and by large she meant big as a horse, leapt up on top of a playground swing set. Forgetting about the cell phone in her pocket and her mandatory orders to call at the first sign of trouble, she went to the aid of the screaming children. Although the site of a huge chipmunk was rather amusing, the damage it had caused was not.

Twenty minutes later all of the children were gone and there was a huge mess of green blood, none of it Momiji's. She was being yelled at by three people at once while Kusanagi just looked on not saying a word but glowering at her. She could expect something from him later.

Look Mr. Kunikeda, when you get matamas and go face to face with an Aragami then tell me what to do. Until then leave me alone. She imagined saying it even opened her mouth to once, but she knew better. This man had taken her in, fed, clothed, and even loved her once. Meekly she took the yelling from him Kome and Sakura. When they were done they trooped back to the van while Sakura made sure she got the last word. Momiji knew she was yelling just to be the center of attention while the others were genuinely scared for her. As had been happening more and more recently she could tell the others feelings without actually touching them.

Kusanagi was still standing there with the same expression on his face as when he'd given her one yelling years ago. She could even remember how it started out.

You little idiot, what the hell did you think you were doing.' The words echoed in her mind reminding her of old times and fonder memories causing tears to well in her eyes. When Kusanagi continued to watch her not saying anything she caught up her coat from the ground and took to the air so she could blame the tears on the wind.

Over the last two months her depression had deepened till there was almost no time she could claim she was happy and even those were tainted. Kusanagi only spent those times with her because he thought that she needed the help training not because he liked her for her. She would gladly give up the matamas now to be able to go back to those days when things where restrained but she could always be by his side. There was a saying, you don't know what you've got till it's gone. It was true

Killing the Aragami on her own was the only way she could hope to redeem herself but there was no solution in this. Not only did he not know it was her doing it but this brought them no closer to sending the Aragami back to sleep. Not even the ultimate sacrifice of her life would do any good; Not this time. The TAC had yet to think of anything either.

To make matters worse tomorrow was Momiji's funeral and Dorien was supposed to go. Akiko was coming up from Izumo with Momiji's mother and grandmother and Momiji wasn't sure she'd be able to handle seeing them again. This whole mess was driving her crazy and for the thousandth time she wished she had never left the house than night.

Reaching her apartment complex she touched down outside and went through the swinging doors. The elevator had been broken for three weeks so she took the stairs. At her floor she had to push past the people in the hall to get to her room and once in side she opened the window. Then she went and took a shower. As she'd expected Kusanagi was waiting for her when she came out. Toweling dry her re-dyed hair, she didn't say anything to him but went and got a drink from the fridge.

Are you having fun thwarting the TAC? He asked in his sarcastic way. Momiji looked at him over her water and shrugged.

Aren't you? She shot back whipping her chin from when she'd spilled. Kusanagi looked at her with a glare that could mean anything. Momiji had come no closer to figuring out why she loved this man but she was absolutely sure she did. Just the thought brought a soft smile to her lips and a glazed look in her eyes.

Earth to Aragami. Kusanagi snapped startling Momiji into dropping her cup. The water spilled all down her front and cursing softly she grabbed a rag from the sink to wipe up.

You really are a klutz. He told her a soft kindness in his voice. Momiji looked up at him for a moment before replying.

And you really are a fathead. She grinned at him in the semi dark then finished cleaning.

The Kunikedas wanted me to make sure that you have an appropriate dress for tomorrow. He told her moving to lean against the wall. Momiji tossed the soaked rag in the sink before standing up and looking down at her midriff strapless shirt that was really little more than a breast-band. Her black biker shorts were not any more concealing. Momiji had long since discovered that the more she wore the more she lost. She had almost gotten over her embarrassment about wearing so little, but still wore the black trench coat she'd bought months ago.

This isn't appropriate? She asked sarcastically as she began looking through her remaining clothes for something a little better.

Not in their book. He said from his side view as clothes practically flew through the air. Momiji wondered at his particular phrasing but continued looking knowing she wouldn't have anything.

Crap. I'll have to go shopping. Are you coming O'Babysitter of mine? She picked up her coat from where it had fallen on the floor when she'd come in. Her wallet was already inside along with a new set of hand mitts. After a few run ins with very close-minded people she had decided to wear them in public.

Actually, no. I need to go get some things. Momiji's Mother, grandmother and friend are staying at the house and there isn't any food. He headed for the window while Momiji took the door.

You shopping for women, this I can't wait to see. Why don't you come with? I could use to get some groceries too and if you have any doubts I can help out. He stopped halfway across the room to consider it then turned and followed her. She held the door open while he stalked out hands shoved in his pockets and a scowl on his face. She tried not to laugh when she shut the door behind her. 

So what are you wearing to the funeral, a tux? She asked a mocking smile on her face and carrying over to her voice. Kusanagi continued to walk down the stairs.

She's not dead. I'm only going as support for her family. She had such a certainty in the way that he spoke that it made Momiji tense up with chills.

You sound so certain. She said echoing her thoughts. Kusanagi stopped on a landing to turn and look up at her. Momiji froze completely watching the open and hurt expression on Kusanagi's face. The streetlight from a window rained down on him making the green of his hair glow and his bronze skin seem luminescent. Momiji's breath caught in her throat.

I know she's alive. He simply stated words full of meaning. He turned briskly leaving her alone on the stairs. This was one of the few times when she could sense his emotions without touching him and the emotions she felt were amazing. Not only was there absolute certainty and absolute love, but pride and approval. But why? How were those possible and who was he proud of?

Confused as all hell she followed him out to do their shopping.

The entire room was filled with loss, morning, and enough sorrow to drown an empath. Poor Momiji didn't even have to walk into the TAC building to feel those that were inside and her own family hadn't arrived yet. Staying on the roof for a few minutes longer she let the breeze swirl the skirt of her dress while she looked down on the world below her.

Everyone had their own lives, worlds, people who cared for them and people to love. Momiji loved so many people but no one knew or cared about her. Everyone thought she was dead and those who really mattered to her might never know the truth.

A white car pulled up and Momiji watched her mother, grandmother and Akiko step out. Surprisingly she sensed little sorrow from them if any at all but they all shared a deep sense of regret. That in itself baffled Momiji.

Ready to go princess? Kusanagi startled her enough that she didn't pay attention to what he'd said.

Damn it Kusanagi, I could have fallen. She scolded careful not to do just that as she got off the ledge to go inside.

Then you would have just flown right back up here. He pointed out looking amazing his sleek black slacks and white dress shirt. His red trench coat, which should have clashed, somehow managed to tie the whole thing together.

Momiji on the other hand managed to clash wonderfully with her green crushed velvet dress and brilliant blue hair. With her old length and color it would have gone fabulously, skin tight to her thighs then a strait length from there that belled around her legs. Two inch heels gave her some added stature although nothing would hide the blue seeds on her chest. At least something matched her hair.

Good point. One of her heals got stuck in the roof and she tripped pulling it out. Kusanagi caught her as neatly as ever and she put the offending shoe back on. Time to face everyone I guess. She whispered to herself as she looked at the door. Head held high she opened the door and took the first step into the darkness.

The main office wasn't exactly packed but with people milling around it was still crowded. Momiji walked in and moved to the side of the door so Kusanagi could come in. No one turned to look at them right away, which was a good thing since she was about to cry herself. She prayed no one touched her or she would indeed cry. She started craning her neck around to see if she could spot her family but someone saw her first.

Came a shriek from across the room accompanied my the shatter of glass. Everyone in the room looked down at the woman who had screamed, it turned out to be Moe. She was looking right at Momiji who everyone thought was Dorien. With as big of steps as she could take in her tightly wrapped Kimono she crossed the room with as stern a look as anyone had ever seen. Momiji was startled speechless nor could she move which was how she missed Kusanagi's look of satisfaction.

What in god's name have you done to your hair and look how thin you are. That dress practically hangs off you. You know I would never approve of you going out dressed in something like that. The usually quiet Moe was now very unquiet as she scolded her daughter in front of a deathly silent room. Finally someone ventured to speak.

But that's Dorien, the governments Aragami, not Momiji. Sakura spoke up from somewhere in the back of the room but Moe just glared at her.

I know my own daughter no matter what she looks like. We're Kushinadas! That wasn't enough to convince them. Look here! She reached out and grabbed Momiji's hand before she could move and turned it so her old bike accident scare just above her elbow was visible. Moe explained in a few short words. 

See now Momiji what do you have to say for yourself? Moe asked in a demanding tone that was so unlike her. Momiji felt the surge of emotion in the room shift from sorrow to anger, outrage, disbelief, and confusion. All of it was directed to her and they were expecting an answer. She looked at all the faces in the room, the Kunikedas, the people of the TAC, even Sakura and Sugishita. 

I'm so sorry!! She cried before fleeing the room. She barely remembered flying up the stairs or the flight to a nearby park but somehow she made it to a bench under the empty branches of a weeping willow. It was bitterly cold outside but she didn't notice even that. Her eyes blurred with tears and sobs choked her as she tried to calm down but couldn't. A warm hand on her arm startled her and blinking rapidly she managed to clear her eyes.

Oh Kusanagi I'm so sorry. She whispered looking up at him with his unreadable expression. Slowly his other hand reached out to her which, after looking at it for a moment, Momiji took. Kusanagi pulled her up off the bench into a tight hug that was sudden and enveloping. His warmth and understanding were to much for Momiji and she started crying again but this time she wasn't alone.

Walking hand in hand a while later Momiji stopped by an outdoor heater and leaned against Kusanagi for extra warmth.

How long have you know? She asked him softly not looking up but at the kids in a yard nearby. There were kicking a red ball for a cute brown puppy to chase.

Since the first Aragami. He told her wrapping his arms around her. At first it was a little stiffly but when she made no move to leave he relaxed.

How did you know? She asked turning to look up at him. His hands locked behind her back to hold her up.

When you took that hit for me you had exactly the same look on your face as when Orochi gave you his matama. It's a look I could never forget. He had been looking away but now he looked down at her.

Why didn't you say something, you could have told me. He was shaking his head even before she finished speaking.

You had a reason for not telling me and after the way the government and the TAC treated you, I don't blame you. He sighed and she knew there was something else but he would tell her in his own time. He reached up and riffled her hair. To bad you had to cut it.

I didn't know you liked it long. She mumbled feeling embarrassed and slightly ashamed. He hadn't been mad at her the entire time she'd been wrestling with herself and thinking of all the horrible things he would do if he found out. This was not like the Kusanagi she remembered at all.

We've changed so much. She said rubbing her nose against his chest. Kusanagi hugged her close but said nothing. What was there to say? She owed him an explanation though but how to start it she didn't know.

Is what you explained to the doctor true, about the matamas and what the Minister said? Kusanagi asked after a while with curiosity.

Yes, except for the part they left out, like where they kidnapped me and put me in a cell. No one would believe I was Momiji because the real Dorien looked a lot like me. She sighed. Everyone is going to be so mad at me.  
It's not something you can avoid forever. He told her giving her a squeeze. It was true enough but this wasn't getting them any closer to anything.

Well, we should probably go back and see if we can come up with a new plan. She said her mind never far from the new Aragami problem. He nodded and they walked off.


	9. A Beginning's End

Going back to the office had been all but a mistake. Yes almost everyone had left but those who hadn't wanted answers. Momiji tried her best to answer without breaking into tears but without Kusanagi fielding the harder questions she might not have made it. She had hoped that they might then get to the matter at hand but instead they locked her in a room with Matsudera and her needles since she no longer had a good excuse to avoid it.

My the time that was over with Momiji could have hated the woman, but it wasn't in her nature to hate anyone. She was then told that all of her new belongings had been taken from the apartment and moved to her house. That had been started and completed while she was the guinea pig of the year. The government would no longer be housing her although she could keep what was left on the card they'd given her as an apology for them doing this to her.

Home, she hadn't been there in so long even standing outside it was hard to believe that she was allowed to go back to her own home. She didn't feel as though she belonged here anymore. Well if she did or didn't that wasn't an issue really. She was tired, emotionally drained, and all she wanted was to fall into bed and sleep. Taking the stairs two at a time she turned the handle on the front door and peered inside. The lights were all off except for a glow that was coming from the dining area. Shutting the door as quietly as she could Momiji walked through the kitchen and looked through the door.

On the dining table dinner was laid out with a fabulous display and even two white candles in the center making the room glow. The only thing that marred the picture was Kusanagi with his back to her talking on the phone. Momiji listened quietly.

"Yes i have everything just like you said. Yes, yes, I know Akiko, okay. Thanks for the advice." He hung up the phone and turned around to face Momiji who had her hands covering her mouth while she fought a giggle. She knew better than to think that he'd be able to pull this off himself but it was a wonderful thought. Composing her face she lowered her hands and smiled.

"Kusanagi, you didn't have to." She told him stepping into the candlelight. He had the classic dear in the headlights look but it was rather endearing. Momiji went over to him and placed a gentle hand on his muscled arm.

"Yeah, but it's your first night home. Akiko said it should be special or something." He was trying really hard to act like he'd had no part in it whatsoever but she knew better and gave him a playful punch before going to her seat.

"So what do we have here?" The attention was shifted off him and she knew he felt better that way. Kusanagi listed the dishes making sure she knew they were delivered before they sat down to eat together in their home for the first time in months.

Belly full and even more tired than before Momiji stepped out of the shower and toweled off. She had picked out her old favorite pair of pajamas but when she put them on they practically swamped her. She had to tighten the strings at the waist and cuffs to feel even remotely comfortable. Running a comb through her hair she decided to let it grow out again and not ever use the dye. There was a soft knock on the door and Momiji went over to unlock it. Kusanagi poked his head in and gave her a wry grin.

"I think those are the most concealing clothes I've seen you in for three months." He told her trying not to laugh.

"Pervert." She replied playfully."What's going on?" She opened the door and let him in. His presence sent her into shivers as usual but he didn't come in just stood in the doorway leaning against the frame and looking awkward.

"I guess I just wanted to make sure you were actually still here. I've known that you were okay but you were never actually with me. Ick I sound like a love sick fool." He shook his head trying to make some sense of what he was saying but that tossed his hair into his eyes. Momiji reached up and tucked it out of the way.

"What's so wrong with being a love sick fool?" She asked peering up at him through her lashes. She so wanted to know that all she had been through over the last few months was not in vain.

"I've been one for years but never knew it." He whispered lowering his face to hers and placing a kiss on her nose.

"I love you too Kusanagi." She whispered back.

Kusanagi claimed that he couldn't sleep without being absolutely sure that she was still there so he lay on the floor next to her bed. Every so often he would lift his head and look up at her, she would look back down at him and smile, then he would lay back down and pretend to go to sleep. She couldn't even pretend and as such it took her a very long time to fall asleep. When she did the dream was so startlingly clear that Momiji felt she was reliving a memory.

"It's time for me to rest now until Lord Susano-oh and I are needed again." Kadee's soft musical voice faded as she and the baby Lord Susano-oh disappeared into the light surrounding Momiji and Kusanagi. Those words echoed in Momiji's head until, with a sharp jolt, she realized their meaning.

"Kadee!" She said sitting strait up in the dark. Kusanagi was by her side in an instant looking concerned. Momiji hoped that the information she was about to give him didn't hurt to much.

"I have to call them, Lord Susano-oh and Kadee. If I call them they can help. Only some of the Aragami woke up so they couldn't do anything." She explained poorly while climbing out of bed and rummaging through her clothes to find something suitable and it had to be white.

"So how do you call them, not the Rite of Matsuri?" He asked watching her with that same concerned look.

"No of course not. I can do it using the cleansing rite but I have to go to an Iwatto and the only one repaired so far is the one in Izumo." She finally found her only white strapless shirt and biker shorts. She would have to make the call as a full Aragami not as the Kushinada. She practically threw the clothes on in the bathroom and grabbed her jacket. Kusanagi was fitting his shoes on as she strode to the window.

"What no door?" He asked from behind her with a chuckle. She didn't have a real reason other than convenience.

"Just for you Mamoru." She said throwing up the window and diving out. Honestly she didn't know if she would have the ability to go out the window after this and kind of wanted to do it one last time. The people of Japan were going to need her to be the Kushinada again which most likely meant no matamas.

Flying across the country for what was probably also the last time, Momiji followed Kusanagi in the near dark. The houses and people below her zoomed by but at each spark of light she felt her heart fill with warmth. Despite what she'd been through or maybe because of it she realized that she still loved Japan, it's people and places. If it still came down to dying for them she would be willing to do it in a heartbeat.

As the sun rose over the horizon Momiji recognized the snow covered trees and mountains of her hometown. Izumo looked no different than it had the last time she'd been here but it sure was cold. She shivered in her jacket. The Iwatto drew her like a magnet and she was sure that even without Kusanagi leading the way she would have found it.

The steps to the Iwatto were covered with fresh fallen snow although the skies were clear. They touched down in the clear semi circle just outside and paused. For Momiji it was so she could gather the courage to go inside. Kusanagi was just hoping that he wouldn't lose another Kushinada to the Aragami Lord.

With a deep breath that fogged in the cold air Momiji took that first step and headed down the cold earthen steps into the gloom of below. Kusanagi followed making so little noise that she stopped at the bottom to make sure he was still there. He had an awfully closed expression on his face which, made her want to touch him so she could discover what he was really feeling. HE didn't know that she had that particular talent but she didn't want to invade his privacy.

Once she'd turned the mirror so it would catch the sunlight she took a long hard look at the Iwatto. It was just as she'd remembered it from the cool pool of water to the jagged outcroppings of rock on the walls. The whole thing had been recreated perfectly.

"Well this is it." She whispered to herself hands unfastening her coat almost on their own.

"Are you sure this is something you have to do?" Asked Kusanagi taking the coat from her and placing it near the sun mirror. Momiji turned to face him arms wrapped around herself for warmth.

"If we want the Aragami to go away, yes. Only a few are awake but they can someone others which will be devastating. Even the two of us would be hard pressed to dispatch them all." She looked up at him her voice echoing through the chamber making her words not only louder but more real. Kusanagi raised a gloved hand to cradle her cheek as he looked down on her softly.

"I know I never should have asked. Just promise me, Momiji, promise me that you'll come back to me this time." He whispered lowering his face so that their noses were touching and he could look directly into her eyes.

"Oh Mamoru." She cried throwing her arms around him. She couldn't promise.

Elsewhere

The Tokyo Dome was almost complete. At the construction site workers were just beginning to arrive when the ground began to shake violently. At first only light things were effected, coffee cups, hats, keys. But then the cars and trucks were nearly jumping and the extra beams set on the top of semi's were falling off the beds. The men scrambled away as fast as possible. Few realized that the source was not an earthquake but a living tree growing underground twisting up like a snake.

The Iwatto

Wanting to stay in his embrace forever Momiji had to literally peel herself away from him and force herself to remove her shoes and socks. Allowing herself one last look back she stepped into the cool water and walked out to the center and took up the bucket that always seemed to float right there. She focused her mind only on the feeling of the water as she poured the first bucket over her head and felt it find it's way back into the pool. As it ran down her body she imagined all the hurt, pain, anger and evil sluicing down her body until it was washed away by the ever pure pool at her feet. She repeated this step until she felt no impurities within her body.

Dropping the bucket she focused her eyes on an invisible spot on the opposite wall and reached inside to call on her newfound Aragami powers. She could feel her skin part as spikes and plates forced themselves through but she gave into the power rushing into it instead of fighting until her transformation was complete. That done she then centered herself psychically and used her enhanced abilities to express her need for help out into the void. After a few long moments she felt a response.

Somewhere along the line she had closed her eyes and opening them she realized that there was a soft glow coming from the water around her. She looked over her shoulder at Kusanagi, he could see the light as well and was shucking his shoes on his way to the waters edge.

The light brightened right in front of her forming a large sphere of blue light and it levitated there for a long moment before separating into two spheres. Momiji could feel the water shift around her ankles as Kusanagi came up besides her and the spheres moved so one was in front of her and one in front of him. There was a flash of brilliant white light, blinding both of them for a moment and when they could see again they found that Kusanagi had changed into full battle form as a reaction to the supposed danger. Instead of danger they faced Princess Kadee who stood before Kusanagi and Lord Susanno-oh who was the full grown man they'd seen but once. Momiji looked up at him awe and wonder.

Elsewhere

After the complete destruction of the dome the Aragami quickly moved on to the shipping area near by. This early in the morning there was not many people but the workers were there preparing for the day and setting up booths. The TAC tried repeatedly to contact Momiji and Kusanagi but their attempts failed. They were on their own.

The Iwatto

"You came." Breathed Momiji looking at the two who had tried to kill her for nearly a year. She had tried to come to terms with that and had thought she'd succeeded until faced with them in person.

"Yes. We would have sooner but as all the Aragami have not awoken neither could we." Kadee informed them. Lord Susanno-oh nodded looking as omnipotent as ever.

"So how do I put them back to sleep again? I'm not exactly the Kushinada that I was before. My death will not put them to sleep this time." In earnest she took a step forward raw emotion exposed on her face. Looking back and forth between them she could discern nothing.

"There is a way, but it requires and enormous sacrifice on your part Momiji." Kadee informed them sadly.

Elsewhere

A long track of broken concrete exposed vines, shattered glass, and one long green bloodstain ran through what had once been the shopping district. As it laid waste to everything nearby it ignored the chunks and pieces that the defense force and the TAC kept trying to take out. The wounds, terrible and jagged, bled profusely for a few moments then regenerated at amazing speeds despite the ferocity of the bombardment. With every passing moment more forces were pressed into trying to take out the monster as it neared the local school of elementary students.

The Iwatto

"NO!" Kusanagi yelled so loudly the echo was nearly as deafening as his roar. He jumped over to shield Momiji from Lord Susanno-oh. "Not again!" He startled everyone including Momiji. "I will not let her die for you two again, not when it was because of you that she was forced to last time." He was shaking with anger, more anger than Momiji had ever seen from him and she was touched.

"We promise she will not die, in fact she will be almost exactly as she is now. The sacrifice is the abilities she has gained and she can never call on us again. There will be a little pain but you are no stranger to pain Momiji." Kadee whispered those last few words wrenching Momiji's heart. Kadee hadn't just meant physical but emotional as well. With a soft sigh Momiji laid a gentle hand on Kusanagi's shoulder pulling him to face her and ignoring the feelings coursing through her. He turned reluctantly until he saw her eyes then his hands went out to cradle her face his thumbs rubbing off the tears she didn't remember crying.

"Kusanagi, no Mamoru I'm going to do this, you know I have to. I just want to know that you'll still be here when it's over, that I'll still be worthy of your love." The tears started flowing in full force and her face filled with all the sorrow and longing she'd felt over the years. Despite the armor they both sported he pulled her to him.

"Oh Momiji, how could you have ever not been worthy? I always thought that it was I who had to be worthy of you. What fools we are." She hugged him back then looked up at him closely. She was swept up in a searing kiss before she could say a word and breathless but no longer crying he let her go a few minutes later.

"I promise, I will still be here." He put his forehead against hers and ran a thumb gently over her lips while his eyes traced every inch of her face. She smiled faintly.

"It is time Kushinada." A voice that seemed to be the embodiment of male essence spoke directly into her mind. Momiji looked at Lord Susanno-oh knowing that it was his voice. She turned back to Kusanagi one last time before nodding and moving away from him. With Susanno-oh before her Kadee moved behind her and they joined hands forming a circle with Momiji in the middle.. In that circle a blue light formed sealing her inside. Steeling herself for what she knew was going to happen she turned and looked at her sister then nodded.

Red light in a shimmering sphere formed around them generating a warmth that surrounded their hearts. The warmth quickly grew until it was an excruciating pain that moved from her heart to the skin around her matamas. As had happened last time the matamas began falling one by one but this time it was Lord Susanno-oh who caught them.

With all the matamas gone the pain ceased and the red energy escaped the blue shield and began to flow through out the Iwatto. Amplified by the chamber she felt the energy continue on until it had covered Japan but she never noticed that Susanno-oh and Kadee had let go of each other and it was she who carried on the pulse. Any Aragami caught on the surface was immediately gone and those asleep felt the command to fall into an even deeper slumber and obeyed. Once again the Aragami had returned to their slumber and Momiji collapsed into the water not having enough energy to keep upright on her own. Kusanagi lifted her from the water but her head rolled to the side. She was on the brink of death.

Lord Susanno-oh stepped forward now his hands full, not with the eight matamas he'd caught but just one the same soft green as Momiji's eyes. This he placed on her chest in the exact spot of her very first matama. A green light, the energy embodied by the matama, filled her body bringing life back into her cold limbs and breath to her still lungs.

"It worked." She said breathlessly waking up to see Kusanagi's face. She lifted her head a bit and looked at her sister and Lord Susanno-oh.

"Yes indeed it did." Kadee replied. She and Lord Susanno-oh were already fading. "Good luck to both of you and thank you for the help. We slumber yet again and will see you two again in the next lifetime." She reached out a hand as though to wave goodbye and Momiji reached out her own but her fingers slipped through the air where her sisters had been. A tear slipped down her face.

"Goodbye sister." She whispered then leaned back against Kusanagi. "Mamoru, let's go home." She could barely keep her eyes open while he took her jacket and covered her with it. She was asleep before he could finish going up the Iwatto stairs.

The thwap thwap thwap of multiple helicopters filled the air over downtown Tokyo surveying the behemoth of a tree that was the remains of the last Aragami. Permanently lunging towards the elementary school it would stand forever unable to make it's final kill. Cranes were already moving into place to cut it down that way it couldn't cause further damage as the sun rose behind it in a fiery blaze.

The wind whipped the fabric of Momiji's and Kusanagi's coats making them crack in protest while their owners stood in absolute silence looking at the world before and below them. Kusanagi's arm was around Momiji for more than physical support although she had no more energy than a limp noodle and she rested her head on his chest while they watched. Their shared feelings and emotions filled the both of them as though they were one being, an ability she had thought she would lose. It seemed that Kusanagi had gained something as well.

"_Amazing how close it always comes_." She whispered telepathically into his mind. He pulled her closer so she could rest.

"_We never even knew it was happening_." He commented the same way. He was just content knowing that she was safe and the Aragami were out of their lives. Now he and Momiji were the same and yet still different, something they both agreed on with a nod. Through their new telepathic bond they could admit that nothing was going to be the same between them, but they did know that they loved each other and that was enough.

The sun continued to rise and the world changed around them but that one thing would always remain the same.

Good will always oppose evil, and there will always be a sacrifice for those who love all and expect nothing in return.


End file.
